What Did You Expect?
One friend of mine on Facebook had the privilege of hearing Google's own Larry Page speak in public once. (She works for Google.) Afterwards, she posted a comment on her status to the effect of "Wow. Larry Page is a genius."
Going into it, I'm sure she expected him to be very smart. In anticipation of seeing him speak, she imagined what one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the 21st century must be like. She expected him to be a genius. She expected that the words he spoke would be dripping with sheer brilliance. And so it was.
Recently, I read about an experiment that some psychologists did, and it excited me, because it's something that I personally have always wanted to try. They took Joshua Bell, one of the world's best violin players, and had him perform in the subway in Washington D.C. Anyone who wasn't familiar with classical music walked right past.
They weren't expecting to hear a world class violinist playing for spare change in the subway during their morning commute, so they didn't hear one.
Think for a second about you expect to see on your way home from work today. Think about you expect to hear next time that co-worker next to you comes over and starts talking to you, or what your boss might say. We experience most things in life and interact with people around us on auto-pilot. Whatever you expect to see, chances are good that's what you're going to see.
Going into it, I'm sure she expected him to be very smart. In anticipation of seeing him speak, she imagined what one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the 21st century must be like. She expected him to be a genius. She expected that the words he spoke would be dripping with sheer brilliance. And so it was.
Recently, I read about an experiment that some psychologists did, and it excited me, because it's something that I personally have always wanted to try. They took Joshua Bell, one of the world's best violin players, and had him perform in the subway in Washington D.C. Anyone who wasn't familiar with classical music walked right past.
They weren't expecting to hear a world class violinist playing for spare change in the subway during their morning commute, so they didn't hear one.
Think for a second about you expect to see on your way home from work today. Think about you expect to hear next time that co-worker next to you comes over and starts talking to you, or what your boss might say. We experience most things in life and interact with people around us on auto-pilot. Whatever you expect to see, chances are good that's what you're going to see.