Writing · 2024/01/15
Deconstructing an Idea
Why abandoning a belief can take longer than forming it.
It takes more time to deconstruct a building than to build it. Blowing the building up may seem faster, but it takes more time to return to the state before the building began. After the TNT, you still need to clean up.
The same is true for ideas in your head. People form preconceived notions for months or even years before they are proven wrong. When that happens, they make one of two mistakes: either they are afraid of the opportunity cost and don’t change, or they completely reject everything associated with that idea or person.
So either you become too rational about the future, ignoring any possibility of a change to that opportunity cost, or you become too irrational about the past, failing to recognize how that preconceived notion helped and benefited you.