We often see two things as different ends of the same continuum, but this is frequently flawed.
Dislike of one thing doesn’t automatically imply like of another. Not everything in life is on the same continuum, no matter how strongly we feel about it. 24/7 news, social media, and increasing political polarization contribute heavily to this mindset.
The great Stephen Covey advocated for mutually beneficial or “win-win” solutions. Instead of seeing everything as zero-sum where for me to win you must lose, he pushed people to think of ways to expand the pie so everyone could have as large a piece as they want.
We need to bring that same mentality to more things in life. Instead of assuming someone loves one thing just because they express dislike or skepticism about a related thing, maybe we can adopt a mentality that considers the two things on different continuums.
A common place we see this is with employees’ job satisfaction. An old research theory says that dissatisfaction and satisfaction are not one continuum, but rather two. An employee can be both NOT dissatisfied and NOT satisfied.
When we see situations today or this week that seem zero-sum or like they’re two ends of the same continuum, try to challenge that assumption. Where might the other party see these things as two different continuums? Adopting that more open-minded attitude would go a long way toward improving our combative world.
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