“If this sounds totally obvious, well, good for you because it wasn’t obvious to me.” – Kent Beck
Just pretend I add that line to the end of every post from now on.
The “obvious” is deceptive.
There’s plenty of great advice out there that seems obvious when it’s in front of you, but which you can never manage to bring to mind and act on when it would be useful.
There’s plenty of stuff you’ve known for ages and have built many layers of knowledge on top of, which you rarely bring back to the surface for a look with fresh eyes.
There’s plenty of stuff you know in your gut that you’ve never bothered loading into your brain to have a closer look at.
And there’s plenty of stuff you know that you assume everybody else knows, too, and thus isn’t worth talking or thinking much about.
In all of these cases, looking past the “obvious” can cause us to miss out on opportunities — to improve our knowledge, our wisdom, our habits, and to help others do the same.
