Get Smart!: How to Think and Act Like the Most Successful and Highest-Paid People in Every Field

This is exactly the opposite of what most people do. They come up with an idea, and then they seek corroboration and proof that their idea is a good one. They practice confirmation bias They only look for confirmation of the validity of the idea, and they simultaneously reject all input or information that is inconsistent with what they have already decided to believe.
Create a negative or reverse hypothesis. This is the opposite of your initial theory. For example, you are Isaac Newton, and the idea of gravity has just occurred to you. Your initial hypothesis would be that things fall down You then attempt to prove the opposite—“things fall up.”
If you cannot prove the reverse or negative hypothesis of your idea, you can then conclude that your hypothesis is correct.
For example, you come up with an idea fora product or service. You then attempt to prove that there is no demand for this product or service at this particular price. You approach a prospective customer and describe the product or service and then say, Of course, this is not something that you want, need, or are willing to pay for, is it?”
If your customer agrees that he does not want what you are proposing,
you have a valuable piece of information to guide your decision making. If,
on the other hand, the customer counters your negative hypothesis by saying, No, no, no. This is actually something that I would be very interested in buying and using if you were to bring it to market then you have validated your initial theory about the potential demand for this new product or service.
Be Willing to Fail
Be prepared to try and fail, to propose and be rejected, over and over.
Failure, trial, and error are absolutely essential to your ultimate success.
Be your own management consultant with any of your ideas and conclusions. Ask yourself the brutal questions that a consultant would ask you to help guide you indecision making.
“Is there a market demand for this new product or service?”
“How big is the demand, and at what price?”
“What changes would you have to make in your initial idea to make this a product or service attractive enough that people would want to buy it insufficient quantities?”

Is the demand for this new product idea large enough to justify developing this product rather than something else?”
“Is the market for this product idea concentrated enough so that you can reach potential customers with current marketing and sales channels?”
“Will customers pay enough for this product or service to enable you to earn a greater profit than you would with some other product or service?”
Be tough on yourself in becoming informed. Don’t let yourself off the hook or ask yourself softball questions. As Zig Ziglar said, If you are hard on yourself, life will be very easy on you. But if you insist on being easy on yourself, life will be very hard on you.”

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