3.2 Practice radical open-mindedness.

彻底开放的训练

If you know that you are blind,you can figure out a way to see, whereas if you don’t know that you’re blind,you will continue to bump into your problems. In other words, if you canrecognize that you have blind spots and open-mindedly consider the possibilitythat others might see something better than you—and that the threats andopportunities they are trying to point out really exist—you are more likely tomake good decisions.

Radical open-mindedness ismotivated by the genuine worry that you might not be seeing your choicesoptimally. It is the ability to effectively explore different points of viewand different possibilities without letting your ego or your blind spots get inyour way. It requires you to replace your attachment to always being right withthe joy of learning what’s true. Radical open-mindedness allows you to escapefrom the control of your lower-level you and ensures your upper-level you seesand considers all the good choices and makes the best possible decisions. Ifyou can acquire this ability—and with practice you can—you’ll be able to dealwith your realities more effectively and radically improve your life.

Most people don’t understand whatit means to be radically open-minded. They describe open-mindedness as being“open to being wrong,” but stubbornly cling to whatever opinion is in theirhead and fail to seek an understanding of the reasoning behind alternativepoints of view. To be radically open-minded you must:

a. Sincerely believe thatyou might not know the best possible path and recognize that your ability todeal well with “not knowing” is more important than whatever it is you do know.Most people make bad decisions because they are so certain that they’re rightthat they don’t allow themselves to see the better alternatives that exist.Radically open-minded people know that coming up with the right questions andasking other smart people what they think is as important as having all theanswers. They understand that you can’t make a great decision without swimmingfor a while in a state of “not knowing.” That is because what exists within thearea of “not knowing” is so much greater and more exciting than anything anyone of us knows.

b. Recognize that decisionmaking is a two-step process: First take in all the relevant information, thendecide. Most people are reluctant to take in information that is inconsistentwith what they have already concluded. When I ask why, a common answer is: “Iwant to make up my own mind.” These people seem to think that consideringopposing views will somehow threaten their ability to decide what they want todo. Nothing could be further from the truth. Taking in others’ perspectives inorder to consider them in no way reduces your freedom to think independentlyand make your own decisions. It will just broaden your perspective as you makethem.

c. Don’t worry about lookinggood; worry about achieving your goal.

People typically try to provethat they have the answer even when they don’t. Why do they behave in thisunproductive way? It’s generally because they believe the senseless but commonview that great people have all the answers and don’t have any weaknesses. Notonly does this view not square with reality, it stands in the way of theirprogress. People interested in making the best possible decisions are rarelyconfident that they have the best answers. They recognize that they haveweaknesses and blind spots, and they always seek to learn more so that they canget around them.

d. Realize that you can’tput out without taking in. Most people seem much more eager to put out (conveytheir thinking and be productive) than to take in (learn). That’s a mistakeeven if one’s primary goal is to put out, because what one puts out won’t begood unless one takes in as well.

e. Recognize that to gainthe perspective that comes from seeing things through another’s eyes, you mustsuspend judgment for a time—only by empathizing can you properly evaluateanother point of view. Open-mindedness doesn’t mean going along with what youdon’t believe in; it means considering the reasoning of others instead ofstubbornly and illogically holding on to your own point of view. To beradically open-minded, you need to be so open to the possibility that you couldbe wrong that you encourage others to tell you so.

f. Remember that you’relooking for the best answer, not simply the best answer that you can come upwith yourself. The answer doesn’t have to be in your head; you can look outsideyourself. If you’re truly looking at things objectively, you must recognizethat the probability of you always having the best answer is small and that,even if you have it, you can’t be confident that you do before others test you.So it is invaluable to know what you don’t know. Ask yourself: Am I seeing thisjust through my own eyes? If so, then you should know that you’re terriblyhandicapped.

g. Be clear on whether youare arguing or seeking to understand, and think about which is most appropriatebased on your and others’ believability. If both parties are peers, it’sappropriate to argue. But if one person is clearly more knowledgeable than theother, it is preferable for the less knowledgeable person to approach the moreknowledgeable one as a student and for the more knowledgeable one to act as ateacher. Doing this well requires you to understand the concept ofbelievability. I define believable people as those who have repeatedly andsuccessfully accomplished the thing in question—who have a strong track recordwith at least three successes—and have great explanations of their approachwhen probed.

If you have a different view thansomeone who is believable on the topic at hand—or at least more believable thanyou are (if, say, you are in a discussion with your doctor about yourhealth)—you should make it clear that you are asking questions because you areseeking to understand their perspective. Conversely, if you are clearly themore believable person, you might politely remind the other of that and suggestthat they ask you questions.

All these strategies cometogether in two practices that, if you seek to become radically open-minded,you must master.

译文：

如果你知道自己是盲目的，你就能规划出一条看到真相的路径，无论你是否知道自己的盲点所在，你都将继续有很大可能碰到同样的问题。换句话说，如果你能认识的自己的盲点，你将比其他人有更好的的机会公开的思考—威胁和那些被指明的机会真实存在—你将有很大可能做出好的决策。

彻底完全开放总是被天然的担忧-你可能不能正确的了解自己的选择所困扰。有效的探索不同的观点和不同的可能性而不让你的过去和盲点影响到这些是一种能力。这需要用掌握真实的快乐代替过去的固有观念。彻底完全开放心态可以然你拍拖低层次的你并坚信高级的你明白和认识所有好的选择并作出最佳决策。如果你能获得这种能力-通过训练你就能—你将能够更加高效的处理真实情况并显著提高你的生活质量。

大多数人不明白彻底完全开放意味着什么。他们将公开描述为“对错误公开” 却顽固坚持已有的观念并拒绝尝试理解新理论的原因。想要彻底完全公开你必须：

[if !supportLists]A．[endif]真诚相信你可能不知道最佳路径，认识到自己处理好未知的能力比你知道什么更加重要。大多数人做出糟糕的决定因为他们总是确信自己是对的—他们从不允许自己了解更好的事实存在。彻底完全公开的人则会相处正确的问题，并求教其他聪明的人而这与拥有答案一样重要，他们了解你不能做出绝佳的决策是因为你没能在“未知”的状态中多待一会儿，而这种求知的状态比我们已知的给人更大的更加兴奋。

b.了解决策是一个分两步的过程。第一步收集所有相关的信息，然后决策。大多数人不愿收集与他们已经决定的不一致的信息。当我问为什么时，通常的答案是：“我想做出我自己的判断”这些人似乎认为那些反对意见会对他们做出想要的决策带来威胁。没什么比这更离谱的了。带入他人的观点并不会损害独立思考的自由以及做出自己决定的能力。那只会拓宽你的观点。

C．别为那些看起来还不错的担忧，你的目标才是。

人们总是试着证明他们已经有了答案即使他们没有。为什么他们会有这种无效的行为那？通常因为他们认为这是无意义的，但那些拥有答案的人的并不回这些，也没有任何弱点。不仅仅这种观点与事实不符，他同时阻碍了人们进步。人们热衷于做出最佳决策而很少自信他们有最好的答案。他们意识到自己的缺点和不足，总是试图掌握更多以便于他们能绕过困难。

D.要知道没有得到就没有付出。大多数人总是更加倾向于付出而不是接纳（学习）（传递他们的思考和富于创造性）。这当然是错误的，即使个人的主要目标是传达，因为除非接受好的否则付出不会好。

E．知道获得视角其实来自于 他人的判断，所以你必须暂时停止判断—只有亲身感受才能获得正确的评价。公开坦诚并不意味着赞同你不相信的东西；它意味着充分考虑其他原因而不是固守和毫无逻辑的坚持原有的观点。想要彻底完全公开，你需要对所有可能性保持公开-你要鼓励他人告诉你自己错了。

f. 记住你正在寻找最佳答案，不仅仅是你能想出的最佳答案。答案不仅限制于你的头脑，你可以向往看。如果你你能客观的看待事物，你必须知道总是拥有最佳答案的可能性非常小，并且即使你已经有了最佳答案，在得到验证之前也不能满足。所以知道那些是你不知道的是无价的。问问你自己：我是否只是自己判断？如果是，你要知道自己是多么的残缺不足。

g.搞清楚你要讨论或者试图弄明白的事情，根据你的基础，思考哪一个是最合适的，哪一个是他人的可信度。如果两者是同行，可能是得到适当的认可。但如果其中一人很明显要博学的多，那么最好是那个较少知识的人作为博学之人的学生，而博学之人扮演老师。想要做好这一点需要你理解可信度的概念。我认为可信之人就是那些在问题中重复并成功完成的人。--他们都有着至少三个成功案例的印记—拥有信服的方法论。

如果你与其他人就当前的话题有不同的观点-或者至少比你有的更加可信（如果，比如说 你和你的医生在讨论你的健康问题）--你应当澄清你在提出问题因为你试图了解他们的观点。相对的，如果你是更加可信的人，你应当礼貌的提醒其他人这一点，并建议他们向你提问。

所有这些策略汇集到两个实践，如果你尝试成为彻底完全公开，你必须掌握。

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