When you are overgeneralizing, you overgeneralize and assume that the majority of the population is like you.
When you overgeneralize and assume that everyone is a bit like you, you are taking yourself too seriously. You can’t be an overgeneralizer if you don’t believe you are the majority.
The very worst thing you can do when you overgeneralize is to make statements that sound like you are the most knowledgeable person in the room. It will sound as if you have all the answers, but you are only a part of the big picture.
You need to take yourself less seriously if you are trying to be the most knowledgeable person in the room. In college I used to be the most knowledgeable person in the room, and I didn’t care. I was talking about something different than everyone else, and I was so much more knowledgeable about it than most everyone else. When you overgeneralize, you are not taking yourself seriously and you are not a part of the big picture.
There are many reasons that an overgeneralized perspective can be a problem. Often it comes down to a lack of humility. Most people would be surprised to know that the most knowledgeable person in the room is you. The biggest hurdle that people face when writing in this area is having to be more specific about the problem. For example, a common mistake is to say, “I’m the best in the room because I know more than everyone else.
Yes. I did say I’ve been the best at everything I’ve ever done and I am not talking about having the best memory in the room. What I am saying is that I have the most detailed and complete knowledge of the topic.
I am not talking about having the best knowledge of the subject. I am talking about having the most knowledge of the subject. That is a big difference. Because if I am the best, then I am the most knowledgeable. But if I am the most knowledgeable, then I am the worst.
The real problem with overgeneralizing is that it is a way of making yourself look better than you actually are. We often make ourselves feel better about our abilities by saying that we have “the best” or “the smartest” or “the best plan.” When in reality, we have far more knowledge than we think we have.
To help us understand why overgeneralization is a problem, consider the following example. Let’s say you have a list of 10 things to do in a day. Now suppose you add more things to the list all the time. Well, it won’t help you figure out anything because you will always get to the top of the list and then you will always get to the first thing on the list anyway.
This is because the list you have is only a very small part of what is available to you. Think of what it means to have the best plan. If there is no such thing, someone will come up with a plan that is even better, and then someone will come up with a plan that is even better than that. No one will ever come up with a plan that is perfect, but they will come up with some plan that is better than the worst.
