Michael

The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge. – Elbert Hubbard

Do you suffer from ORS, generally called opinion rigidity syndrome*? It can be a common malady. Some of us go through life unaware that we have this chronic problem. It’s insidious and can affect our daily lives in unforeseen ways.

If you have any of the following symptoms, there’s a good chance you have ORS:

1. Do you feel like your way of doing things is the only way to do things?
2. Do you tell people how to do something instead of what to do?
3. Do you lack tolerance for beliefs or opinions that are different than your own?
4. Do you label something you don’t understand as stupid?
5. Do you take it personally when someone doesn’t agree with you?
6. Do you get angry are agitated when things don’t go your way or plans change?
7. Once you got out of school did you stop learning new things?
8. Do you have to be right in an argument or debate?
9. Do you dislike debating a topic because you will have to explain your opinions or beliefs?
10. Do you believe that you don’t have Opinion Rigidity Syndrome?

What can you do to release your mind from rigidity? Here are some suggestions:

1. Practice doing a common task differently than you have in the past.
2. Practice telling people what to do not how to do it. Allow them to figure out the way that works for them. Only give your opinion when asked and then qualify it with the statement, “This is only how I do it.”
3. Try to see another belief or opinion from the perspective of another person.
4. If you don’t understand something, it just means you don’t understand. It’s no more stupid than anything else.
5. Most of the time people who disagree with you don’t mean it personally. Even if they do, you still have the choice of taking it personally or not.
6. Learn to be more flexible with plans. This was a challenge for me. I liked things to be followed and made sure everyone stuck to the plan. Some of it was a control thing. The rest was being uncomfortable with something I didn’t know or hadn’t thought about. Start off with making general plans, not detailed ones. Then practice going with the flow from that point onward.
7. Learn something new every month.
8. Allow someone else their opinion in an argument or debate. The world is not black and white nor are most topics. It’s not about right or wrong. It’s about open discussion with a dash of respect.
9. When you are discussing or debating a topic, practice until you are comfortable explaining why you believe something. It will help to take away the uncomfortable feeling when you get questions from others.
10. We all have ORS to some degree. The first step to reducing rigidity is recognizing that we are rigid somewhere. Once you do that, you are on the road to ending perpetual ignorance.

Have a great day!

Michael

* I made up this name, so please don’t go looking for it in a psychology manual.