I’d Rather Be Wrong

Written By: Lauren Howard

I’d rather be wrong.

Listen, if you know me, you know I love being right. I love being right more than just about anything aside from my kids and, like, maybe cheese. Maybe. 

But I would rather be wrong about people.

I would rather choose to believe that people have good intentions than go around assuming that everyone is going to screw me over. 

That doesn’t mean that I don’t vet things well. I follow my gut. I assess things with my finely tuned BS-filter, and I make decisions based on the information that I have. I try to gauge if people are trustworthy, and I go with what I am able to discern from that process. 

Sometimes, I get it wrong, but I kind of do that willfully. 

Sort of. 

I need to live in a world where people will do the right thing when it’s presented, even if I know that’s not going to be the outcome all of the time. 

That means, sometimes I give people my time for free when they won’t ever come through on their side. 

It means that sometimes I help people just because I can. 

It means that every now and then, an invoice doesn’t get paid. 

I assure you that things work out in my favor far more than they don’t. 

But I will continue to operate with the understanding that it says a lot more about you if you take advantage than it does about me. 

It’s a risk I choose to take and will continue to take if the right thing to do seems clear to me. 

Sometimes people take advantage. 

I still sleep really well at night. 

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Lauren "L2" Howard

Founder & CEO at elletwo