PROPER ESTIMATION!

How do you see your adversary?

Sometimes, we make the mistake of either overestimating or underestimating our adversary. Not only is it unwise, but it is also a dangerous move that could cost you greatly in the long run.

My coach would say, “Life is like a coin, and a coin has three sides; the head, the tail, and the edge.”

The head side of this coin is this: when you see your opponent as superior, you unconsciously begin to see yourself as inferior, and that is such a limiting mindset. Because as a man thinks, so he is.

Then there is the tail side of the coin: when you see your opponent as inferior or beneath you, you become vulnerable to mistakes because you overrate yourself and underrate them. And as King Solomon said, “Pride goes before destruction.” It is pride to assume another person is incapable of thinking deeply or seeing things from angles you have not considered.

Finally, there is the edge of the coin. The unusual side where both extremes meet. The wisdom of the edge is balance. Neither overestimate your enemy and underestimate yourself, nor underestimate your enemy and overestimate yourself. Instead, have a proper estimation of your adversary.

While preparing for a debate I participated in recently, I sent my argument points to my coach. After reviewing them, he told me to rewrite those same arguments as though I were my opponent. At first, it felt pointless, but standing in that debate hall and hearing my opponent make the exact points I had already written down made me almost unsurprised. I could anticipate their arguments because I had already prepared strong counters for them beforehand.

What my coach was teaching me was simple: proper estimation. Not assuming my opponent would not be smart enough to think a certain way, but considering the possibility that we were both equally capable.

Dearest reader, like Pojomatics would say, “You’re your greatest enemy.” So do not think only like the hero; put yourself in the shoes of the villain too. Think like your opponent.

Have you noticed that in crime and detective movies, criminals often get away for so long until the detective begins to think like a criminal? That becomes the detective’s unfair advantage.

Your enemy is not inferior, neither are they superior. Therefore, you must learn to have a proper estimation, an unbiased evaluation, because more often than not, your opponent is just as smart as you are.

@favvy_Okwans🖤.