#19 - Make Something Up

I find it surprising that so many people have trouble offering answers to opinion based questions. Its not like the person asking the questions lives inside your head...just make something up...i'm not endorsing lying, but when in a situation in which you feel the need to exclaim "i don't know" just make something up...it's not that hard

Sometimes in life we need to just smile and nod in order to get through things with the least aggravation and resistance...there are times when the best possibly solution involves a quick use of the imagination...yet people seem to have trouble with this....

I offer this as advice to people and usually i get confused looks or disapproving questions...i think what you'll notice is that the concept of making things up when necessary isn't about teaching dishonesty...its a way to teach yourself to react quicker to situations that call for answers you may not have at the ready...these made up answers have to come from somewhere...and you'd be surprised at how many made up things are actually exactly what the person thought immediately but for one reason or another was too stubborn to say....

We all hate that cycle of inquiry that results in "I don't know" "Why?" "I don't know"...this is aggravating and leads to no positive conclusion on either side...it may be best to just move on, but the stubbornness of most people makes this harder that it should be...if you just make something up this can be avoided....

On the receiving end, when people realize your willing to accept a made up answer, they are less likely to stubbornly refuse to provide some feedback...they instead will attempt to offer something of value...of course you'll always have those that take the make things up concept to an extreme, but you'll find those people would have done something disruptive no matter what your expectations are...if you can create an environment in which people feel like they have some freedom you'll find that the "i don't know" repetitive questioning procedure will vanish....

So i challenge you to not only make things up, but advise others to make something up in response to questions and situations of which you/they are unsure...it will help you/them to develop a quick firing brain and break those stubborn barriers of fear about being wrong...which will lead you to better explaining yourself and providing the best truth you can, even if its not 100% correct.