The Hypothesis Worth Disproving
January 8, 2011 
I finally started reading the new book The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss. I'm only on page 12, and I'm already inspired. Here are two quotes that have my wheels turning.
This [approach] could be totally wrong, but it's a hypothesis worth disproving. - Timothy Noakes, PhD
It's important to look for hypotheses worth disproving. - Timothy Ferriss
This has me thinking - about fear, about avoidance, and about how so many of us sit on the sidelines and never truly live our lives. Here's an example of my very own life-avoidance opportunity that presented itself recently.
The week or so before Christmas, I got this crazy good business idea, and I almost wanted to kick myself since it had been right under my nose for at least six years. That idea led me to dreaming again about one of my lifelong goals: moving to Hawaii (or at least spending extended amounts of time there each year).
For fun (but partly as hopeful research), I went on Craigslist and started searching for rental properties there, and would you believe that I found a place with decent ocean and mountain views for only $425 more per month than I spend on my current home?!
Now, I know, depending on your perspective at the moment, $425 isn't a drop in the bucket, or is it? To me, I could relatively easily find ways to generate and/or save $425 each month with the right kind of motivation (and Hawaii is enough for me).
The whole thing got me thinking about how far off we think we are from our goals and dreams, when really they're just a small reach. That was scary. How many of us go through our lives never doing the things we want to do, simply because we never even check to see how close they are to us?
The scarier part, though? Now that I knew just how close that big, audacious, lifelong goal was to me, would I have the nerve to go for it?
The thing was, there were many variables within my plan, and without just going for it, I had no way of knowing whether or not they would work out. There were unknowns that, without just laying it out there that this was what I was going to attempt, I had no way of even identifying, and how unnerving would that be - laying everything on the line and then failing, or worse succeeding and then having to follow through ON MY OWN?!
It was all one giant hypothesis to prove or disprove, but the even bigger question was, did I have the nerve to take on this life experiment?
The verdict? I'm still biting my lip, trying to decide, but I'm thinking 2011 might be a good year for a science fair. You in?