The First Thought is NOT Your Best Thought

Your first thought is your most influential opinion that drives and guides your decisions. That is why it is the most important thought that you need to be mindful of. Your first thought is usually not your best thought, it’s usually someone else’s line of thinking that you adopted. It has the highest potential to cause you harm.

People rarely question their own opinions. They believe that their first line of thinking is right and that there’s no way they could be wrong.

After all, if it was so incorrect, why did they have the opinion in the first place? Once they have an opinion, it’s hard to change it to another one. Even if it is incorrect.

I once brought up to my friend that Uber was worth more than the entire taxi industry combined. His immediate response was that “that is so stupid”. At first glance, yes it doesn’t make sense.

The taxi industry has been alive for 120+ years while Uber has been alive for maybe 12 years. Almost a 10th of the time.

However, Uber’s valuation soared even higher than when I first brought it up to my friend. The immediate response to the headline was his downfall. He was unable to see the future and therefore was wildly incorrect. That’s why you need to be mindful of your first reaction.

Afterwards, it’s up to you to objectively evaluate whether the first reaction is correct or not. If you do not know how to control your opinions, it means your opinions control you.

You will forever be influenced by circumstances that happen to you instead of you influencing the circumstances.

Chances are, many of your first reactions were correct and many of your first reactions were incorrect. It’s up to you to correct the incorrect opinions.

First Thought is a Knee Jerk Reaction

I was getting a haircut the other day and the hair stylist and I got to talking. I mentioned how I get my hair cut every three months or so and prefer not to go monthly. Immediately afterwards, she replied “why? I mean, haircuts don’t cost that much money”.

I was slightly thrown aback at how the question was phrased but then I let her know that it was about saving time, not money. Getting a haircut takes more coordination than people think.

The first step is recognizing you need a haircut. Then you have to figure out the business hours and actually schedule an appointment.

After scheduling, you have to drive, wait in line, then get the haircut. All of these activities take time and decision making. The real reason why I avoid taking frequent haircuts is that it saves me a meaningful amount of time and effort.

I can focus on more important things that add more value to my life.

That is a prime example of what an incorrect first judgement and first thought looks like. The mismatching of reason and opinion didn’t really matter in this end for this interaction. I still go to her for my quarterly haircut appointments.

However, for bigger and impactful ideas, assumptions have a chance at setting your life backwards. A knee jerk reaction can be the cause and start of a downfall.

You also need to recognize when others are just employing swift judgement towards you.

When you see a low-effort quick comment directed at you, there usually isn’t substance behind those statements. That’s the time when you can ignore them and continue living your life. It genuinely wasn’t about you, it was a reflection of them.

Consciously Evaluate Your Judgement

The best chess player in the world, Magnus Carlsen, said in an interview that he usually already thought of a counteracting move immediately after his opponent moves. However, he refrains from making it immediately. Instead, he sits back and considers scenarios in which he could be wrong.

That’s the right approach. Your first thought may actually turn out to be the best thought but there is always a chance it can be incorrect. A better approach would be to evaluate it on its merits and run it through the test of time before coming to the conclusion that it’s the right approach.

Otherwise, you could be stuck in an incorrect single perspective for the rest of your life.

There are some people who think of someone alone eating rice and beans when they hear about the financial independence, retire early movement. With no electricity or a way of entertainment.

Many people who’ve achieved financial independence actually live a great life surrounded by people who love them. It’s not wise to listen to the people who think that their first judgement is the best one. I’ve had people tell me how ridiculous they thought retiring in their 30’s were.

Not because it would create boredom but because they didn’t think it was possible. They thought, “well, if you do the right steps, contribute to your 401k, and maybe, IF the markets are good, you could retire in your 50’s”. Many mocked the early retirement movement, which is completely OK.

I was skeptical as well when I first started. However, I was open to hearing everyone out because I knew there was a chance that I was wrong. It’s a good idea to evaluate any knee jerk reactions and opinions that you may immediately form.

I know it’s saved me countless times.

Those Who Say First Thought is the Best Thought

There are those who argue that your first thought is your best thought. That the immediate thoughts are the most authentic truths. Otherwise, you could be stuck in an analysis paralysis situation and never move forward.

While I agree that it is authentic, I disagree that it is correct 100% of the time.

Confidence stems from experience. The more knowledge one has, the more confidence someone gains. A doctor with many years of experience can diagnose a patient quite quickly with better accuracy versus a doctor with no years of experience.

That still does not mean that there isn’t a potential to be incorrect. They should still evaluate what they’ve missed. I am not saying that intuition isn’t right. Intuition is right and it’s one of the best ways to make decisions.

However, I am advocating to double check and evaluate whether the intuition is correct. More than half of the time, it is, but reassurance isn’t a bad thing to take care of the other half of the time when it is wrong.

There are many instances where appearances don’t tell the whole story. When our own eyes betrayed and deceived our line of thinking. Exercising conscious effort to know more information is a good way to avoid that.

Examples of Wrong First Thoughts

When it comes to emotional subjects such as money, there are many first thoughts that are downright wrong. A highly emotionally charged subject such as money causes people to have numerous misconceptions. Below are some of them:

• Frugality is the same thing as being cheap
• It’s not retirement if you’re still working
• Those who want to retire early are lazy
• You have to get lucky to retire early
• You have to sacrifice too much to be financially independent
• People who are rich have high incomes

There are instances where people got it wrong and ventured out into the wrong end of personal finance. Due to these misconceptions, some people left the FIRE movement after trying it out for about five years.

The stories of people who have quit the financial independence route almost always went to the extremes. They ventured out into extreme frugality instead of moderate frugality. They refrained to spend money on fun altogether and instead chose to save that money.

That’s not what the FIRE movement is all about nor has it ever been. The FIRE movement is supportive of people extending their early retirement out a few years to live in the moment today. They have never supported sitting at home doing nothing in order to cut a few years off a person’s working life.

The ones who’ve quit the financial independence movement early haven’t done good enough research to thoroughly understand what it is all about. That’s where the wrong first thought can sink a person. It actually takes time and effort to fully understand the ideas of a movement that’s as big as FIRE.

There are other valid reasons to not pursue it anymore, but make sure you fully understand them before doing so.

The Test of Time

One way that you can break free from having incorrect first thoughts is to test it through time. The more solid and high quality opinions usually withstand the test of time. They are evergreen advice that people adopt. One example is Warren Buffett’s advice that price is what you pay, value is what you get.

If you are truly and genuinely confident that the first thought will withstand testing and logic based counterpoints, then it is fine to have them. Most immediate thoughts and opinions do not stand against that evaluation method and it’s better to double check.

Incorrectly understanding a concept can lead to wrong decisions with dramatic consequences. Some wrong decisions are irreversible. I used to think that it was better to save as much money as I can instead of focusing on quality purchases.

There’s been many times when I had to revisit a store to correct that mistake.

It’s better to measure twice and cut once. We don’t always have the luxury of getting to cut twice. Life doesn’t have an undo button. Prevention is also better than treatment.

Therefore, instead of relying on overconfidence, let’s just be confident and make our decisions accordingly. Confidence is not about never questioning your decisions and thinking you are right all the time. Confidence is about having convictions yet being open to the possibility of being wrong.

Be mindful of what your default position and first thought is. That way we can both make better decisions and lead to a better quality of life. With conscious effort and a little bit of time, it’s certainly possible to get there.