How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life pdfdrive com

3. Popular Thinking Is Slow to Embrace Change
Popular thinking loves the status quo. It puts its confidence in the idea of the
moment, and holds on to it with all its might. As a result, it resists change and
dampens innovation. Donald M. Nelson, former president of the Society of
Independent Motion Picture Producers, criticized popular thinking when he
asserted, “We must discard the idea that past routine, past ways of doing things,
are probably the best ways. On the contrary, we must assume that there is
probably a better way to do almost everything. We must stop assuming that a
thing which has never been done before probably cannot be done at all.”

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4. Popular Thinking Brings Only Average Results
The bottom line? Popular thinking brings mediocre results. Here is popular
thinking in a nutshell:
Popular = Normal = Average
It’s the least of the best and the best of the least. We limit our success when
we adopt popular thinking. It represents putting in the least energy to just get by.
You must reject common thinking if you want to accomplish uncommon results.

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HOW TO QUESTION THE ACCEPTANCE OF POPULAR THINKING
Popular thinking has often proved to be wrong and limiting. Questioning it
isn’t necessarily hard, once you cultivate the habit of doing so. The difficulty is
in getting started. Begin by doing the following things:

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1. Think Before You Follow
Many individuals follow others almost automatically. Sometimes they do so
because they desire to take the path of least resistance. Other times they fear
rejection. Or they believe there’s wisdom in doing what everyone else does. But
if you want to succeed, you need to think about what’s best, not what’s popular.
Challenging popular thinking requires a willingness to be unpopular and go
outside of the norm. Following the tragedy of September 11, 2001, for example,
few people willingly chose to travel by plane. But that was the best time to
travel: crowds were down, security was up, and airlines were cutting prices.
About a month after the tragedy, my wife, Margaret, and I heard that Broadway
shows had lots of seats and many New York hotel rooms remained empty.
Popular thinking said, stay away from New York. We used that as an
opportunity. We got cheap plane tickets to the city, booked a room in a great
hotel for about half price, and got tickets to the most sought-after show: 
The
Producers.
As we took our seats in the theater, we sat next to a woman beside
herself with excitement.
“I can’t believe I’m finally here,” she said to us. “I’ve waited so long. This is
the best show on Broadway—and the hardest to get tickets to.” Then she turned
to look me in the eye and said, “I’ve had my tickets for a year and a half, waiting
to see this show. How long ago did you get yours?”
“You won’t like my answer,” I replied.
“Oh, come on,” she said. “How long?”
“I got mine five days ago,” I answered. She looked at us in horror. By the way,
she was right. It’s one of the best shows we’ve seen in a while. And we got to
see it only because we were willing to go against popular thinking when
everyone else was staying at home.
As you begin to think against the grain of popular thinking, remind yourself
that
Unpopular thinking, even when resulting in success, is largely underrated,
unrecognized, and misunderstood.
Unpopular thinking contains the seeds of vision and opportunity.
Unpopular thinking is required for all progress.

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The next time you feel ready to conform to popular thinking on an issue, stop
and think. You may not want to create change for its own sake, but you certainly
don’t want to blindly follow just because you haven’t thought about what’s best.

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