It is often said that common sense isn't common, and to me this is a premise for understanding why purely logical thinking sometimes leads us astray.
I've learned this lesson repeatedly through personal experience, where my most carefully reasoned decisions tend to produce unexpected and undesirable outcomes, especially in domains of life that aren't inherently logical.
Common sense is mostly useful in logical domains of life, those practical or precise areas where cause and effect follow clear patterns.
In engineering, mathematics, or organizing your weekly schedule, logical thinking serves as an invaluable guide. Needless to say, this is only an aspect of our brains and life generally can't be reduced to only logical processes.
Arguably, that's why we continue to say X or Y doesn't make any sense, yet it keeps on happening, time and time again.
We see this pattern in relationships. The "perfect match" on paper turns out to be wrong in the real world and an unlikely connection that seemed doom to fail blossoms into something beautiful.
Needlessly Practical
I remember meticulously planning my career path after college, putting together detailed spreadsheets and comparing different opportunities based on salary trajectories, growth potential, and work-life balance.
Yes, I was that practical back in the days and this is still echoed around how I approach major life decisions, though now with a healthy dose of skepticism.
On paper, almost everything pointed to taking a corporate position, which was the most logical choice. Looking back now, I think it could be said that even when thinking logically, there's an element of wishful thinking masked as rationality.
It didn't take that long for this supposedly perfectly reasoned decision left me feeling increasingly disconnected and unfulfilled. But the trick happened to be I allowed myself to consider options that didn't "make sense" on paper and just ran with it, with my aspirations as the main guiding principle.
Clearly the point is logic alone is an insufficient compass for navigating life's complexities.
That said, this perspective isn't to dismiss the value of logical thinking. But to recognize that there are other ways of knowing which aren't necessarily apparent to us.
Our emotions, intuitions, and even our seemingly irrational impulses often carry wisdom that pure logic can't capture.
As in, the friend who drops everything to be there for you during a crisis, despite their busy schedule.
Or an entrepreneur who starts a business in an already crowded market because they believe in their unique vision.
In such cases, there isn't a spreadsheet column for measuring the impact of following your heart, so to speak.
Put in another way, the most meaningful aspects of life emerge from decisions that defy logical analysis, sometimes.
And maybe, the next time you find yourself puzzling over why something that "doesn't make sense" keeps happening, consider whether you're trying to apply logical thinking in a domain where other forms of wisdom could better light the way.
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