How Absolutes Limit You

I was a math major in college. I’m sure that sounds awful to a lot of people. To me there is a certain elegance to math. It’s absolute. No grey areas.

1+1 always equals 2, right?

Not necessarily. 1 man and 1 woman can be one couple. 1+1 in base 2 is 10.

We often think in absolutes in the hard sciences - chemistry, physics, engineering and biology. This can be very limiting.

Any blood pressure over 130/80 is considered ‘high’

Blood glucose over 100 or A1C 5.7-6.4% and you’re pre diabetic

Diabetic for anything over those numbers

Score a 90 on a test? You’re an A student

Score an 89? You’re a B student

Those numbers can categorize you for life. Medical professionals make a note in your records and it follows you everywhere.

They may prescribe medication for life when you may have just been stressed that morning.

Teachers put an A on your report card and you gain entry to a very prestigious college. One point lower and they put a B. Then it looks like the local university instead.

It’s easy for our brains to cling to absolutes. We learn a certain way to do things. Then we never change it.

In high school our football team was told to do 3 sets of 10 repetitions for weightlifting exercises. So that’s what I did for years. With very little gain.

I wasn’t very curious about other techniques until years later when I wasn’t satisfied with my progress.

Yet when you look around the gym, you see people doing the same workout over and over again. Walking/running on a treadmill. Lifting weights. If you watch them over time it doesn’t vary much.

And neither does their physical improvement.

The same thing happens when a doctor says you only have 6 months to live. Or you’re old and should feel some aches and pains.

The experts have spoken. They know the science. It must be true. Just like a teacher categorizing you as an A or B student.

It’s easy to say ‘well that just must be the way it is’.

I say BS.

The world needs you to be unreasonable. Break free from these absolutes. They may bring order to the world in some aspects, but they will not move the needle forward.

You’ve heard the sayings:

“The science is settled”

“Most experts agree”

For centuries most experts agreed that putting leeches on someone’s body will cure them of all that ails them.

Coming up with one answer for a problem and calling it settled means nothing ever changes. Keep questioning the world around you. When someone categorizes you a certain way, take it as a challenge to prove them wrong.

Maybe your new way of looking at something will change the world? As George Bernard Shaw said, there is no other way to make progress.