Don't Believe: This Is Common Sense

I used to think some things were common sense.

For example:

Don't discuss an employee's salary in front of other people.

Or:

When a process feels messy, look for patterns before complaining about the chaos.

Or:

If you have a problem, ask the person who can actually solve it.

Or:

Try looking it up yourself first.

Or:

Not every emotion is an emergency.

Then I discovered something surprising:

None of these are actually common sense.

Many things I thought were obvious were simply the ways I had learned to think.

Many things I assumed everyone could do were skills I had spent years developing—through work, mistakes, difficult conversations, and cleaning up more than a few messes.

A fish never thinks swimming is a talent.

It simply assumes:

"Doesn't everyone do this?"

Until one day it sees a cat fall into the water.

Some people are gifted at organizing chaos.

Some are gifted at understanding emotions.

Some are gifted at reading people.

Some are gifted at getting things done.

Some are gifted at starting.

Some are gifted at staying.

Some are gifted at believing.

Some are gifted at questioning.

The abilities we overlook most are often not our weaknesses.

They are our strengths.

The things that come so naturally to us that we stop noticing them.

The things that feel as effortless as breathing.

So when someone struggles with something that seems obvious to you, it may not be because they're careless.

It may not be because they're incapable.

It may simply be because that particular skill was never part of their default equipment.

Don't believe: "This is common sense."

Some things you think everyone knows are actually abilities you've spent years developing.

And some things others do effortlessly may be gifts you've never possessed yourself.

When you stop treating yourself as the average person, something interesting happens.

You become less confused by other people.

And a little more understanding.

You begin to see that there is no universal set of common sense.

There are only people—with different talents, different blind spots, and different ways of making sense of the same world.

The next time you catch yourself thinking:

"Isn't this just common sense?"

Pause for a moment.

Maybe it isn't.

Maybe it's one of the abilities you've been undervaluing all along.

Don’t be too quick to believe it.
Think for yourself.