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“A teacher asked the class: There are nine sheep in a pen, and one jumps out. How many are left? All the students responded 8! One child said, ‘There are none left.’ The teacher responded, ‘You don’t understand arithmetic!’ The boy replied, ‘You don’t understand sheep!’”
~Charlie Munger
In our first family car, my oldest found the window button shockingly quick. “Chase, roll up the window.” It was said many, many times to a non-compliant child. It took a while, but I realized roll-up doesn’t mean anything to generations born after me. He had no appreciation for winding a knob to get the window to “roll up.” I never thought twice about this phrase I’d heard my entire life.
My impatience mounts when someone just isn’t getting it or is obviously wrong. Being right feels exactly the same as being wrong up to the moment I realize I am wrong. If I can pause my rightness for just a moment, I start to ask questions. Once the conversation starts, I can more clearly understand what they understand. I more clearly see where our beliefs of what is right don’t line up. From there, we can finally make progress.
Do I appreciate that my impatience might signal I am not listening? Can I accept that no matter how right I feel, there is more to understand? Will I start our conversations with where you are instead of where I am?
Be curious, be kind, be whole, do good things.
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