The Invisible Gorilla

I'm reading a book with the above title which refers to an experiment where the subjects were watching a basketball game on video and their assignment was to count the passes between players.  In the middle of the video a person in a gorilla suit walked across the scene.  When asked, only 25% of the subjects even saw the gorilla.  The book covers a variety of similar experiments one of which showed that the more over confident one is, the less capability one has!  Another experiment compared the capability of groups who guessed the number of jelly beans in a jar.  If the group functioned by each member writing down his/her guess and then averaging the guesses in the group, that group did far and away the best - compared to the groups who discussed their guesses.  In the latter group, the most outgoing member usually took control and it was his/her guess that ended up being the group's guess. 

The point that came across to me was that we all should be careful to become knowledgeable before we make decisions.  We may "feel" capable and may even feel more capable after we've consulted someone else, but we may be like most people and have an illusion about our capability and even if we've consulted someone else, it may be that person is no more knowledgeable than we are.  A lot of what we think we know is just opinion and/or familiarity and does not provide us what we need to make good decisions.  An example given in the book was that of a student who has read the material several times that he/she will be tested on.  So, the student is familiar with the material.  The problem is that he/she will not necessarily have understanding of the material which is what the test will measure.

To reach goals that will take us to the life of our dreams, knowledge and understanding of the steps to take are invaluable.  Consulting others is only useful if we're sure they are truly knowledgeable!