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Fear of thinking

by Steven Hodson on December 28, 2008 · Comments

thinking-cat-is-thinking Okay I don’t mean a fear of the act of thinking but rather the fear of making your thoughts on new ideas or concepts that you have arrived at available to the public. It is so much easier for the majority of us to happily tag along talking about other people’s thoughts and ideas. There is no real risk in doing that other than we may pick the wrong side of any discussions that arise out of those ideas.

But to step out and actually publish a new thought, idea or concept for all to read is a risk that many are not able – or willing – to take. So what are some of the reasons why it is so hard for people to break free and be willing to broach new ideas and thoughts?

Well … it could be any of the following

Fear of public ridicule

Whether or not our ideas or thoughts are right or wrong at some point some-one; or some group of people, will make fun of what you have written. One has to look no farther than Robert Scoble to see this. While I might not always agree with him you can always count on Robert to express new ideas and thoughts – just as you can always count on people to ravage him for them.

One only has to watch the feeding frenzy that happens around some of his posts to understand why there is this fear. Very few people like to have their preconceived ideas challenged by anything new and when they are it is like the sharks have been let loose.

The fear that you could be wrong

The more original the idea or thought might be the greater the possibility that your supposition(s) are completely wrong. As human beings we dread being proven wrong and that dread grows exponentially with the number of people who might have read your thoughts.

The simple human quality of shyness

While we might have a brilliant idea we are more comfortable sharing it with more trusted friends rather than presenting it to the larger world. Going outside of one’s comfort zone is incredibly hard for a lot of people especially when it comes to personal things like ideas and thoughts.

Original thought is something that we all should treasure. Discussion around original thought should be something that is done with respect.

Unfortunately in most cases neither things happen. Is it any wonder why we are in such short supply of new original thoughts and ideas.

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Tagged as: random thoughts

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  • Steven, thinking is hard. Careful thought requires time and testing but the accelerated nature of online communication, which values novelty over depth, makes that unusual. One of the reasons Robert gets slammed is because he often comments glibly on subjects that he hasn't taken the time to fully understand. It's not entirely his fault -- the ecosystem rewards quantity over quality.
  • True enough Sprague .. I know right now I am trying to get something straight in my head but it isn't an off the cuff type of idea to just slam a post out about. It ain't easy :)
  • I disagree in the quantity over quality comment - it works SHORT term...long term value is based on having a consistently high signal to noise ratio. There is far too much noise, and you can't win by being louder. You can win by being better.
  • Choosing quality over quantity is always a better decision, I know many blogs where 6 months old posts still have more traffic than a blog which is updated daily. I always do care about that.
  • One of the reasons why I loved reading Business 2.0 magazine is because it was filled with business/people who were doing new things, capitalizing on new ideas, new ways of doing things. I think doing something new or saying something new is in and of itself, a barrier. I think much of that has to do with the comfort level of sticking with the norm since the norm is somewhat predictable.

    I'll be trying during 2009 to get around the barrier of doing new things or speaking my mind regarding new ideas. If I can convince myself to not care as much about what people think or the ridicule I might face, I think I'd be able to make some progress.
  • To be very true, Writing is entirely a different thing and we always think in a wrong way. I always write(right or wrong) for myself. I have 5 blogs and on all of them, I write what I want to. I am neither an American nor English man but I write. I express what lies inside me. I think that is my secret of success.
  • Choosing quality over quantity is always a better decision, I know many blogs where 6 months old posts still have more traffic than a blog which is updated daily. I always do care about that.
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