They need to courageously change their minds, defying the current social norms. This punctures unanimity and allows for nonconformity within that critical early majority group. These early majority champions prove indispensable by serving as a legitimizing reference to their peers. In addition, now we know—thanks to Christakis and Fowler—that this

When someone in our network adopts a new belief, it subconsciously makes you view that belief as slightly more normal than it previously was.

This increases your likelihood of adopting the belief yourself. Whether you like it or not, your beliefs are socially contagious.

if you can’t answer this question, you need to analyze very seriously why you have this belief to begin with, because it may be based solely on dogma, which is fundamentally incompatible with persuadability.

Conformity toward shared beliefs leads to feelings of attachment and solidarity with fellow tribe members.5 It’s like the glue that holds groups together.

The problem of failing to ask for feedback is not unique to therapists; it’s common among all kinds of people. Just think about the number of people you have personal or professional relationships with: friends, landscapers, dentists, mailmen, spouses, bosses. Now, how often do any one of them regularly ask you, “How am I doing?” in an authentic

Knowing that his own perspective was fundamentally biased, he wrote: “The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.” Da Vinci took the idea of looking at his own work from different perspectives quite literally, advising: “We know well that mistakes are more easily detected in the works of others than in one’s own. When you are

making the choice that matches your interests and values at the highest level of reflection, regardless of external influence and norms, is the true mark of self-determination.

Psychologists call this innate approach motivated reasoning. Instead of beginning with the evidence and then proceeding toward a conclusion, motivated reasoning is post hoc; it starts with a conclusion and then searches out evidence to support that conclusion.