What Are You Trying To Pull Here?

I went to Marie Callender’s in order to get a pie (they’re on sale) a few days ago. Specifically I went to go get a Double Cream Blueberry.

As I was walking out of the house I made sure that I had enough money, and I also grabbed a handful of coins off of my bookcase because I was running low in my car. So I get to Marie Callender’s and order my pie. Since I had a tin (they require a 50 cent deposit on them to make sure that people bring ‘em back) the cost was $6.99. I looked in my wallet, and I saw that I had one each of $20, $10, $5, and $1 bills. Sweet! So I grabbed the $5 and the $1 bills and started rummaging in the handful of change that I grabbed out of my car as I was getting out. I saw that I had 3 quarters, 3 dimes, a nickel and 3 pennies. (On another note, is it sad that I still remember all of this a few days later?) Sweet again! I can make over 99 cents with the coins that I had so I didn’t have to get more change.

The cashier starts looking at the coins (understandable since she needs to count it out), and she starts to mildly protest. I wonder what’s up, and she asks me what “this” is? She’s holding up one of the quarters. And…it’s a Chinese coin. Oh my, I am slightly embarrassed. Then I realize that I’m going to have to take all of the money back since I couldn’t make another 25 cents. Haha I felt pretty silly having to take it back and give over the $10 bill. Thankfully the cashier didn’t seem to mind too much. She did make a comment that it was Japanese or something, to which I mumbled, “Er yeah something like that.” I was too sheepish to correct her.

The whole time after that I was thinking that she might have thought, “What is this Asian guy pulling here?” So Marie Callender’s cashier, if you’re reading this, it was an honest mistake. I wasn’t trying to cheat. It’s also kind of unrelated, but I’m really not that Asian that I usually carry around Asian currency with me.

Willing To Change

It should come as no surprise that you are not always correct. And this even though you probably think that you are always correct (as I talked about in Algorithm For Your Life.

When you have a wrong opinion and are faced with facts, are you willing to alter your thoughts on the matter? It’d be hard to find someone that doesn’t think that sounds reasonable. But it might come as a surprise to you that I feel as if I see that people are not always so. But why?

I think that a large part of the difficulty is that changing is tough to do. It is a rather outright admission that you are wrong. Nobody wants to be wrong. It’s also admitting that you don’t know it all. And don’t we all wish that we could be a know it all? (That’s a bit sarcastic for those that can’t sense it since I obviously think that Experience Matters.)

Be willing to change, you might find that it’s not as hard or stressful as having to know everything.

Experience Matters

Those who can — do. Those who can’t — teach.
-H.L. Mencken

An oft heard saying that strikes deep at the hearts of every teacher around. It’s not hard to find a pupil or person who is willing to use the saying for someone that they are forced to listen to. While I don’t often say it (seems rather blatantly disrespectful, wouldn’t you say?), sometimes I can see where the quote might have come from.

Have you met people that freely give their opinion on anything that they encounter? Yeah that person is called a know-it-all. They’re a KIA. Without the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty. Hardy har har. But they really are a pet peeve of mine. Most people aren’t fond of KIAs however when I encounter one I have this immense urge to prove them wrong.

KIAs are a proud and arrogant bunch who at their core probably are a little unsure of themselves. And thus the need to prove their superiority over everyone else.

I would like to make the distinction at this point between those that think that they know it all as opposed to those that actually do know quite a bit. KIAs are those that think that they know it all. But they don’t. While they have an opinion on everything, you only need to be well-versed in one of the things that they talk about to know that they don’t know as much as it might seem. However, there really are people that know their stuff. And to them I say bravo. It’s funny how those that actually know a lot seem to think that they know so little while those that know very little seem to feign knowing much, huh?

Anyway, so that point is that I don’t like listening to people give me their opinion on something that I’m doing when they have no experience in the matter themselves. If they have no experience, then they obviously do not entirely know what they are talking about. It’s even worse when I know that they don’t even have the capacity for it.

Take exercising for example. While I’m not an amazing athlete or anything, it’s hard to listen to those who’ve never run a mile give their advice on my running. To someone who will not even raise a finger for their own well-being, you do not get to sit on the sideline and critique my effort.

I give brownie points for trying your best. Perseverance is not something to be taken lightly. But if you’re not even willing to give it a shot? You might as well be talking to a wall. At least it won’t try to prove you wrong!

Mementos

In the journey of life, we have our ups and we have our downs. How insightful of me to say, huh? But along the way we each have the chance to collect little mementos that remind us of the stops along the way.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Cindy47452

While some people don’t have a care in the world for things that remind them of the past, others like to keep them for those occasional times when they’d like to wax nostalgic. Some like to show them off to everyone, and others enjoy the opportunity to pull out ugly pictures, sappy love notes, and the like in order to have a chuckle or two even if it’s just by themselves.

I bet you can guess which I like to do. Because oh do I do enjoy it.

Anyways whatever the reason, I like to tell people to at least keep a box of the good stuff. Even for those that want to clean up everything, the chance to look back on the path that you’ve traveled is a chance that you don’t want to miss. Trust me, it’s fun.

Only One First

Nobody wants to be a copy. But there has to be copies.

Logically, there can only be a single person who is first. Buzz Aldrin wasn’t it. Neither was John Adams. While that doesn’t mean that they were any less impressive, it does mean that they didn’t get to be the first in their respective areas.

But many people are not satisfied to simply be doing something that has already been done. They want to be first. So they make claims that mean nothing. They state that they’ve invented the wheel without realizing that history says differently. They’re either blissfully ignorant or possibly a little more nefarious than that.

This strikes deeper than simply attaining to some unknown peak. While for some people it might just be reaching for great things, it seems like those that make claims of “revolutionizing” something are just stuck in a world without the wild west to explore. They’re inventing frontiers where there is already a well-worn road. And they’re doing it because they can’t stand the thought of not doing something worthwhile in their lifetime.

Everyone wants to be a standout somehow. And you can. You don’t need to falsify your achievements to do it. In fact, perhaps it’ll come even quicker if you stop looking so hard for it.