“…He gets criticized for changing his opinions, or ‘flip flopping,’ but over a lifetime I’ve seen many people who don’t change and they always get left behind. Smart people learn things, so they change their minds. Only stupid people never change their minds…”
So were the recent words of Donald Trump, referring to Mitt Romney on the Today Show last week. Love him or hate him (I mostly side with the latter), the man makes a good point. A point that we often forget. A point that we should apply to our decision-making a little more often.
The point? It’s okay to change your mind. In fact, you probably should.
Change is inconvenient. We inherently want to be right. We have the desire to be correct. To prove we’re smart. To show that we “know things”.
But that inability to see things from another perspective. That little something inside that refuses to be “wrong” – it will forever hold you back from learning, growing, and ultimately having a more formed and educated opinion, on, well, pretty much everything.
Even the people in the spotlight, in this case, a politician, are allowed to change their mind. Of course, we hold them to a higher standard, we expect them to have a firm, unwaivering stance on issues, but, this just in, everyone, even our key decision-makers learn and develop new ideas and perspectives based on experience.
So maybe it’s time to change your mind on the career you want to pursue. Maybe it’s time to change your mind about who you’re going to vote for. Or maybe it’s time to change your opinion on Tori from Saved by the Bell (I mean, come on, those episodes were still lightyears ahead of The College Years – and don’t even get be started on The New Class).
Here’s to being okay with changing your mind a little more often…