Confirmation Bias

In the course of history, there have been a few curious individuals who seem to need no help in achieving greatness, as it is simply woven into the very fabric of their being. As an undergraduate student, George Dantzig arrived late to a statistics class and saw two problems written on the board. He assumed them to be homework exercises and completed them both, only to find out later that they were two of the most famous unsolved problems in the field of statistics. Bobby Fischer was better at chess when he was 13 than most players who have studied the game their entire lives, as made evident by his brilliant queen sacrifice to win a match that would later be called "The Game of the Century". Where some have found themselves unable to break new ground in even a single endeavor, Michael Jackson innovated in multiple fields simultaneously: singing, songwriting, dancing, choreography, record production, and music video production.

However, most of those who have achieved greatness were at one point entirely inept at the pursuit that they would later master. In addition to the single-minded focus that guitarist John Petrucci refers to as "tunnel vision", I have come to learn that confirmation bias may also be a vital tool for propelling oneself to greatness. Confirmation bias, as defined by Wikipedia, is "a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses." In most contexts, the phrase carries with it a highly negative connotation. However, when you want something so badly that you dream about it on a regular basis, but people tell you that you can't have it, confirmation bias can be the only thing that keeps you going.

On Thursday night I performed a 25-minute set at what I considered to be my first legitimate gig. Afterwards, my good friend Big T confessed that "all of the songs kinda sounded the same." One of the gig managers boldly described the performance as "an aural intercourse I will not soon forget," and later went on to contradict Big T's account of the evening. Whose words do you think I took to heart?

----

Week 38 total: 13.5 hours
Grand total: 810 hours
Required pace: 731 hours (+79)