You’re being fooled and here’s some bad news for you.

It’s not who you think it is.

It must be the government. Or the media. The other political party. The ___ (fill in social group you don’t belong to). They might all be fooling you, but I’m not talking about them.

They aren’t the real problem.

How do I know this?

I’ve got the same problem.

I’m being fooled on a daily basis, and I thought I had the problem pinpointed.

I actually did find the source of the problem. But gradually (over several years) that clarity slipped away from me and I started mis-identifying the problem again.

You’re Not the Exception

You may think you are different. No one’s fooling you. You don’t have this mysterious problem. And even if you did, you would never forget the source if it were revealed to you!

But you do have the problem. You’re not the exception.

The real problem is you’re fooling yourself.

Before You Go…

You’re either about to sign off or maybe you’re annoyed. But I’m talking about self-deception, a problem that philosophers — and lately psychologists — have been wrestling with for many years. I’m fooling myself, and you are fooling yourself, and we don’t even see it because we think the problem is with something else.

If this is true, what can we do about it?

Start by questioning your certainty that you aren’t fooling yourself.

What if I were fooling myself?

I’m going to take some time to really investigate this.

Then take some time this year to do that.

I can tell you, it’s time well spent.