July 6, 2020

Common sense is not so common

Old fence post with moss and barbed wire

I remember my father telling me that ‘common sense is not so common’ when I was about 7 or 8 years old.

A neighbour visited and I listened while they talked about the boundary fence on the west side of the farm. It needed repair and they discussed the options. That fence was on a very steep bit of hillside, almost a cliff at some points along its length, and what the neighbour proposed seemed like madness to me.

After he left, I said his solution wouldn’t work and that’s when my father said that ‘common sense is not so common’.

By the way, that fence didn’t get fixed for years 🙂

How often have you assumed something that seemed obvious to you, but someone else saw things differently and therefore acted differently?

They are not wrong from their perspective, but from your perspective they are wrong. Who is right?

Does your perspective have a greater right to exist than theirs? Is it more accurate?

After all, they built their perspective the same way you built yours.

My best wishes, Paul

Paul Matthews

CEO and Founder of People Alchemy

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