Wisdom is contentment with cognitive dissonance.
This is paraphrased from a paraphrased quote that I heard at Tim Ferriss’ live podcast recording.
As humans, we love certainty and consistency. We like to choose one option and stick with it. Once we decide one of those things, it’s really hard to switch because of how much we value consistency.
Cognitive dissonance is “the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.”
Cognitive dissonance is inconsistency. When we identify as someone that helps strangers, but then we fail to hold the door for someone, we need to rationalize that decision. It’s inconsistent with our beliefs and thus we need to explain why it happened so we can fall back into a steady state.
The problem, as Roger Martin pointed out with his research, is the most brilliant thinkers are okay with cognitive dissonance. It seems to be part of what makes them stand out. Smart people often employ something called “integrative thinking.” This means they’re able to take two ideas that seem opposite, and combine them into a new idea. Integrative thinking says that you don’t have to choose between the scale of a large hotel and the personal feel of a small one. There’s a creative solution that can give both benefits.
The key ingredient for integrative thinking is content with cognitive dissonance. If we feel the strong pull to pick one side or other, we miss out on the opportunity to find that creative solution somewhere in the middle.
We love to pick choose a side and stay there, but an extreme is rarely the best solution. Wisdom allows you to find solutions in the discomfort of not choosing. Don’t be so quick to pick a side. Sometimes the middle ground is the best place to see both angles and capture the best of each possibility.
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