We often hear suggestions on living happier, more fulfilling lives.
For me, one bad decision changed mylife.
And that decision has and will affect how I make choices and live mylife both personally and professionally.
40% off TNW Conference!
We ask him how large of aboatyou can get into theboatdock.
As long as its not a 60-70 footboat, its fine, he said.
This is a keybiasthat led to my decision the next day.
After 15 minutes my niece wants to go so we follow them out.
My son wonders if the water in the intercoastal is as warm as the houses pool.
He thinks about jumping in but is scared of the height, which is 6 feet from the water.
Without thinking about it, I dive into the water and hit the bottom.
I see a whiteflashand myearsare ringing.Bloodis coming out of mynose.
I do not loseconsciousnessbut I am floatingfacedown in the water and not able to move my arms or legs.
I am looking at my right hand but cant move it.
I realize that I have broken myneck.
I fear I am quadriplegic; no onewillsee me or save me.
I fear the worst I might die here.
There is no way to climb out, we have to call the paramedics and wait until they arrive.
It was the longest 10 seconds followed by the longest 22 minutes of mylife.
The ambulance could not make it to the house because the palm trees were too low.
I get to thehospitaland find out I have a Jefferson burst fracture of my C1 vertebrae.
First, I am grateful my son did not jump in.
If we talk about it in business terms, I made a management decision that was almost fatal.
Moreover, my decision was biased.
It based on myexperiencein different water with differentboatsthan what my local guide was referring to.
[Read:Want to be an entrepreneur?
Start by visualizing your success]
This sort ofbiasindecision-makingis extremely common inbusinessand personallife.
Avoiding it is key when analyzingdata, especially when you get intodata scienceandmachine learning.
punch in 1 errors are false positives, in otherwordsthe rejection of a hypothesis that is actually true.
key in 2 errors are the opposite: a false-negative where the invalid hypothesis is not rejected.
Myerrorwas key in 2bias: I did not reject an invalid hypothesis that the water was deep.
This is the hidden insight I did not consider.
Had I done so, it would have led me to predict that the water was shallower than normal.
My son, on the other hand, had nobias.
He saw the height of the dock off the water and was rightfully scared of jumping in.
So, what now?
I am blessed to be alive.
Thisexperiencehas given me a renewedsenseof appreciation for every second oflifeand every step that I take.
I am still in pain everyday.
Iwillnever fully recover and there are many things that I enjoy that I might never do again.
But I dont care.
I say no to more things that dont matter now.
I focus on what matters and cherish the time I have.
Material things dont really matter, butexperiencesdo.
