Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life

by Ozan Varol

When your beliefs and your identity are one and the same, changing your mind means changing your identity—which is why disagreements often turn into existential death matches. As a result, at the outset of their investigation, scientists refrain from stating opinions. Instead, they form what’s called a working hypothesis. The operative word is working. Working means it’s a work in progress. Working means it’s less than final. Working means the hypothesis can be changed or abandoned, depending on the facts. Opinions are defended, but working hypotheses are tested. The test is performed, as geologist and educator T. C. Chamberlin explains, “not for the sake of the hypothesis, but for the sake of facts.”14 Some hypotheses mature into theories, but many others don’t.