Referrence:https://signalvnoise.com/posts/3124-give-it-five-minutes
A few years ago I used to be a hothead. Whenever anyone said
anything, I’d think of a way to disagree. I’d push back hard
if something didn’t fit my world-view.
It’s like I had to be first with an opinion – as if being
first meant something. But what it really meant was that I
wasn’t thinking hard enough about the problem. The faster
you react, the less you think. Not always, but often.
It’s easy to talk about knee jerk reactions as if they are
things that only other people have. You have them too. If your
neighbor isn’t immune, neither are you.
This came to a head back in 2007. I was speaking at the
Business Innovation Factory conference in Providence, RI.
So was Richard Saul Wurman. After my talk Richard came up
to introduce himself and compliment my talk. That was very
generous of him. He certainly didn’t have to do that.
And what did I do? I pushed back at him about the talk he
gave. While he was making his points on stage, I was taking
an inventory of the things I didn’t agree with. And when
presented with an opportunity to speak with him, I quickly
pushed back at some of his ideas. I must have seemed like
such an asshole.
His response changed my life. It was a simple thing. He
said “Man, give it five minutes.” I asked him what he meant
by that? He said, it’s fine to disagree, it’s fine to push
back, it’s great to have strong opinions and beliefs, but
give my ideas some time to set in before you’re sure you
want to argue against them. “Five minutes” represented
“think”, not react. He was totally right. I came into
the discussion looking to prove something, not learn
something.
This was a big moment for me.
Richard has spent his career thinking about these problems.
He’s given it 30 years. And I gave it just a few minutes.
Now, certainly he can be wrong and I could be right, but
it’s better to think deeply about something first before
being so certain you’re right.
There’s also a difference between asking questions and
pushing back. Pushing back means you already think you
know. Asking questions means you want to know. Ask more
questions.
Learning to think first rather than react quick is a
life long pursuit. It’s tough. I still get hot sometimes
when I shouldn’t. But I’m really enjoying all the benefits
of getting better.
If you aren’t sure why this is important, think about
this quote from Jonathan Ive regarding Steve Jobs’ reverence
for ideas:
And just as Steve loved ideas, and loved making stuff,
he treated the process of creativity with a rare and a
wonderful reverence. You see, I think he better than anyone
understood that while ideas ultimately can be so powerful,
they begin as fragile, barely formed thoughts, so easily
missed, so easily compromised, so easily just squished.
That’s deep. Ideas are fragile. They often start
powerless. They’re barely there, so easy to ignore
or skip or miss.
There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1.
Spending other people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea.
Dismissing an idea is so easy because it doesn’t involve
any work. You can scoff at it. You can ignore it. You can
puff some smoke at it. That’s easy. The hard thing to do
is protect it, think about it, let it marinate, explore
it, riff on it, and try it. The right idea could start
out life as the wrong idea.
So next time you hear something, or someone, talk about
an idea, pitch an idea, or suggest an idea, give it five
minutes. Think about it a little bit before pushing back,
before saying it’s too hard or it’s too much work. Those
things may be true, but there may be another truth in
there too: It may be worth it.