Derek Thompson

We don't like doing this.

But of course, this is the only way to grow.

This is the only way to see things from different perspectives.

So what you're doing is collecting this portfolio of perspectives.

You already have one.

My existing belief was my mother is too judgmental and hard to please.

And I was very sure that was a fact.

So now I'm going to try, what could other potential beliefs look like?

So what's the opposite of my mother's too judgmental and hard to please?

And then she was telling me a statement of fact.

She was telling me that the flowers didn't look so great.

Okay.

Does that necessarily mean it's a judgment?

Maybe not, right?

So that could also be true.

Okay, here's a third perspective, another belief.

Instead of my mother's too judgmental and hard to please, I am too judgmental and hard to please.

Could that be true?

Well, to be honest, I had rehearsed exactly the script of effusive praise that I was expecting from my mother.

These flowers, they're the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life.