We all have opinions about everything. We are rarely present in them.
I saw this clearly in July 2023, inside a transformative program. One tool stayed with me. CYO. Catch Your Opinions.
The opening it gave me was simple. If I can catch an opinion, I can see who is bowling it and who is batting. It is a cricket picture. It does the job.
Having opinions is normal. Catching them with awareness is the edge.
What the catch actually is
I let a part of me watch my thoughts and actions. That part stands a little outside of me. Not me, watching me.
When it catches something, I do one small thing: I rename it. Not a fact. An opinion.
The word before I speak it → my opinion.
The image I see inside → my opinion.
The gesture, the written line, the spoken line → my opinion.
The renaming changes the delivery. Attention sharpens intention. Intention sharpens the message.
What triggers a catch
For a long time, I thought I caught opinions everywhere, evenly. I do not.
An opinion that meets agreement goes to sleep. Nobody pushes it. It never asks to be looked at.
An opinion that meets contradictory data wakes up. The data does not fit the opinion. The fit is broken. That break is the loudest signal I get.
So the trigger is not new information. New information that agrees with me passes through unnoticed. The trigger is contradictory data. The moment something refuses to match what I hold, the catch is right there, asking to be made.
Now I treat contradiction as an invitation, not an irritation. Irritation defends the old opinion. The invitation examines it.
Where I catch them
Mornings. I wake by 5:30. A book, a video, a podcast. I note the insight and the opinion I formed about it.
Work conversations. On organizational priorities with my leadership team. I hear what they say. I notice their opinions through mine. I hand over mandates, which are also mine, or I take in their lessons from what they say and what they do not say.
Evenings. An hour of Netflix. The intention is learning. Entertainment is the bonus. The observer stays on through it.
What I do with a caught opinion
Once a thought, an action, or a non-action is named an opinion, I do not feel good or bad about it. I decide what to do with it. I work on its quality. I align it with other opinions. I work toward a shared view that the team can own as a picture of the future.
I am not finished here. I am still changing my ways for the better.
The one that caught me
A conversation with an expert opened something. He did not say it. The conversation made me see it. I operate from ego.
That was an opening, not a verdict. Now I can catch the ego the moment it walks in.
And it is fine that it walks in. Ego helped me build the little ecosystem I have built. But there is more on the other side. Let the system play itself, and collective creativity becomes available.
#DhandheKaFunda: Catch your opinion. Then you can change it.