Clinging to a narrative

The reason why Bernie Madoff fooled all those people wasn’t because the scheme was so bulletproof. It was the story he told to people who had money that they could have more of it.

This is why we continue to fall for the same traps because of the story we continue to tell ourselves.

Familiarity plays a key role here. Even if we know how certain jobs will play out, we take them. “Better the devil you know than the one you don’t,” we claim. We also say, “With my luck…” as if past performance is a key to future outcomes.

These are narrations. Not a fortune cookie of things to come.