Always allow for the possibility that you might be wrong

Everyone likes to be right - right? Well what if 1,000 people read that statement and just 1 person categorically states that it's not that important to them? So whilst you're close on 100% there is of course always a potential margin of error.

If we're truly honest with ourselves we can all remember a point in our lives where we've sworn blind that we are right about something only to have that horror dawn upon us that actually we were wrong. From an early age we're told how important it is to learn from our mistakes and yet despite this, so many people continue to fall into the same trap time and time again. It's so hard to admit we're wrong about something. So surely it's easier not to be so confident that we are right about something in the first place.

If I asked you to guess how many bits of information each of our sensory systems take in per second what would your answer be? Maybe low in the low thousands, somewhere in the five figures or even six figures? Well let's break it down;

Eyes - 10,000,000 bits per second
Skin - 1,000,000 bits per second
Ears - 100,000 bits per second
Smell - 100,000 bits per second

and finally

Taste - 1,000 bits per second.

Maybe it's no wonder we like eating so much, it gives our brains a rest compared to the information overload we experience through the other four. You now have an excuse as to why you're comfort eating. 

The human body sends around 11 million bits of information to the brain per second to be processed. Now we know that it's no wonder we forget where we last saw our house keys. How many of those bits can the conscious mind process per second - 50. That's right, of 11 million bits being calculated per second in our heads we are only consciously dealing with the 50 that our brains have selected are the most important.

How many of you have been in a group of friends and you all witnessed something on which you later cannot agree? How many of you had the same experience in a situation where consumption of alcohol was also involved? Or when experiencing a high degree of stress or anxiety?

In your own mind you're utterly convinced about what you saw and yet reality dictates that any one of those other 11 million plus pieces of information that your brain chose not to share with you consciously could have given you a far different perspective on an event if only they'd been given the chance. Remember that figure is per second - sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes per hour multiplied by... Well you do the maths if 11 million isn't a mind boggling number to start with already.

Ask yourself when you weren't there in person to witness something, how reliable is the information being told to you? We've all heard that there's two sides to every story and yet how many times do we even listen to both of theses sides before we make up our minds as to which version we believe is true? On the one hand you've got your friend of 25 years telling you what happened. You know them, you've been so close for so many years and you know in your heart of hearts that they'd never lie to you. That bright yellow dress you wore to the company Christmas event with the huge bow on the front that your best friend told you that you looked amazing in and then you wondered why everyone walked past singing the theme tune from Sesame Street. They wouldn't have lied to you about that would they especially knowing you'd shelled out the best part of a weeks wages on it?

Friends sometimes tell other friends what they want to hear right rather than the truth? Of course a true friend would have told you that you looked like Big Birds long lost twin but they thought they were doing the right thing I'm sure and you got a new job and untagged yourself in all the photographs across all major social media channels so it's OK. You can forgive them one minor discretion. There's always a chance they were telling the truth and the rest of the room didn't appreciate how great it made you look... But apart from that when something happens to them which upsets them and they tell you their version of events and you didn't witness it, you're going to take their side and back them up not just 100% but 110% because that's what friends do. You go out to battle for your friend and you become blindsided and won't hear a single word against them. One day however it transpires you were wrong because what you'd been told wasn't truthful and all because you based your friendship on blind faith and didn't allow for the possibility that you might be wrong. Most of us will be able to name such examples in our lives, especially when we're teenagers.

This doesn't just count where friendships are concerned or substituting friends for family members. Every time you read something in a newspaper, magazine or online - how do you know it's true? 'Oh it was in the Guardian,' you say, 'they're a trusted source it must be true!' Then you go around preaching the information like it was the Gospel and let's be fair how much faith would anyone put in something which is so clearly un... oh wait. In the latter example way to much but that's a conversation for another day. The point being if what you're believing is coming second or third hand to you just because someone presenting it to you has faith in it's merits and truthfulness, doesn't make it any more truthful than the existence of Santa or the Tooth Fairy when you're five years of age.

Who was it that said we can't be right all of the time? Well they were right - well that time at least. So allow yourself that nagging doubt of uncertainty. Stop and ask questions and if something doesn't feel right then maybe your gut reaction has some merit even if you have known someone else involved since you were knee high to a grass hopper. And lastly if you're going to swear blind you're correct and not be prepared to back down - don't choose to do it in a restaurant. Or maybe if you happen to be with someone who chooses to do it in a restaurant whilst you're present and still waiting for your meal, have the presence and piece of mind to walk out and leave them to it if necessary. We all know what's going to happen to the food behind those closed doors!