Confirmation Bias: Here’s How it Worked for Me
And Just Like That, It’s a New Month.
How are you doing with your goals, your hopes, your dreams two months into this new year?
All of a sudden, I’ve been hearing more about Confirmation Bias.
I wasn’t even sure what sort of phenomenon it was until I kept seeing it everywhere.
Haha.
That’s kind of what it is.
It’s the weird thing that happens when you start thinking a certain way and then everywhere you look, there’s your proof that you’re right.
Here’s how it worked for me.
I’ve been researching and writing a chapter book series for kids.
I wasn’t sure if it was the right way to go for me.
I didn’t want to spin my wheels on a book series that would get me nowhere and no closer to being published.
That was my mind set.
Low and behold, I kept bumping up against articles that said chapter books are notoriously difficult to find an agent for and get published.
Then my friend and writing coach wrote a post about Confirmation Bias and Writing Success on her daily “nudge” to subscribers (her blog is www.writebythesea.com).
She basically said, whatever you look for and believe, you can find evidence to support that belief.
Huh.
So I Googled “How easy is it to publish a chapter book series.”
Up popped a positive article!
Not just any article either.
It was an article in the well-respected Writer’s Digest magazine.
What Confirmation Bias do you have that may be keeping you from your goal?
*It’s so difficult to write a book.
*It’s impossible to get organized.
*It’s so tough to lose weight.
*It’s too hard to find a job.
You can always find your proof.
So why not look for positive news?
*Writing a book is a pleasure.
*Organizing is possible!
*Of course, people can lose weight.
*There are lots of jobs out there for which I’m qualified.
Can you imagine all the things that wouldn’t exist if their creators believed the books and the people who told them their thing couldn’t be done?
Along these lines, in another blog that I love and read daily called Adulting: Second Half, I read this quote by Georgia O’Keefe:
“It isn’t just talent. You have to have something else. You have to have a kind of nerve” (www.kellyfoota.com, February 12, 2023).
Ain’t that the truth!
The post went on to say (and I have her permission for quoting her here), “You can’t be at the top of your game at anything that you set out to do without nerve. There isn’t any dream which you set out to do that is completely without risks.”
With all that being said, let this post be your confirmation that, yes, you can accomplish the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year.
Whatever your “impossible” is, people are doing it all the time!
Summon up your nerve, and just go for it.
It’s a trust fall, baby. (I do love Pink.)
Have a great week!
~G
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