3 Common Phrases That We Need To Stop Saying (Because they’re total BS)

We all know that cliche term that people throw around haphazardly when something goes wrong. Some unexpected obstacle appears out of nowhere and inevitably a defeated friend, family member or colleague feels compelled to say “It figures…Murphy’s Law.”

The consensus understanding of this irrefutable law is “if something can go wrong — it will go wrong.” That’s it in a nutshell, anyway. So, I began to ponder. What is the origin of the phrase, is it an actual law, and who the hell is Murphy? The answers were both surprising — and not so surprising.

Murphy’s Law is bullshit.

First of all, using your own sense of logic and reason, is there any truth to “if something can go wrong — it will go wrong?” Of course not. For instance, the ceiling could collapse on me right now as I write this, or murder hornets could fly into my DoorDash bag, which will be here any minute, or I could have a stroke and tyhgnnthth&%$#kshdubdbmk

Just kidding.

See? There’s a lot that could go wrong that doesn’t, probably a zillion things; so the phrase is just a myth that holds no water, except as a mantra for the Eeyore-esque who look for any reason to be a downer. I will tell you how it started, and then you can roll your eyes and smack yourself in the forehead like I did, wondering how we ever let the accepted definition of Murphy’s Law into out vernacular. Of course, I never discount the power of the story carousel to change stories and twist the meaning. How else would religions have survived this long? The more people that tell the story, the more it changes, but a short summary of the actual story goes something like this….

The law’s name supposedly stems from an attempt to use new measurement devices developed by Edward A. Murphy for the US Air Force in 1949, for the purpose of testing the human tolerance for g-forces during rapid deceleration.
After many failed attempts with the new devices, out of frustration, Murphy blamed the failure on his assistant, and said something to the effect of “If that guy has any way of making a mistake, he will.”

That’s it and that’s all folks. Not exactly an immutible law of quantum physics, more like a pretty boring story that somehow punched it’s ticket to the bigtime. Dissapointed? Yes, I was too.

Which leads me to another one of my all time favorites that is said quite frequently, yet has no basis in reality, and zero data to back it up…

“Bad things come in threes”

Hard to believe that anyone would actually believe this nonsense, but I’ve seen it in action, so it’s definitely still out there making it’s rounds.
The thing is, if something bad happens to you, and you truly believe that bad things happen in threes, you will be on the lookout for the next two bad things to happen. Inevitably, they will, because bad shit happens all the time.

If we changed the saying to “bad things happen in 6.5s” the same would hold true. It might take twice as long for the bad things to happen, but as soon as they do you will claim it as proof of the prophecy — while adding in the other thing that happened that was only half bad to complete the prognostication.

Why not believe that good things happen in the threes and be on the lookout for them? If you’re looking for them, you will find them, I can assure you. It’s all about what we choose to put our focus on.

Last (at least for today) but not least…

“You should respect everyone’s beliefs”

No. No you should not.

You should acknowledge everyone’s beliefs, but respecting them is a different ballgame. Should we respect the beliefs of the 9/11 hijackers? Do we respect the beliefs of the KKK? Charles Manson? Tom Cruise?

Sorry to lump you in there Tom, but I’m trying to make a point here. Respecting someone’s beliefs when you don’t agree with them is a lazy way to avoid conflict. If you simply want to avoid conflict, that’s fine, but that still doesn’t mean you have to respect the belief.

I generally don’t come across this agitated, but agitation was the inspiration for writing this, so I had to be true to the source. Challenging beliefs, as well as old rules and bad sayings can be very liberating. Take a good hard look at the habits and affirmations that you use on a daily basis and decide if they are serving you. If not, get rid of them.

I prefer to believe that good stuff is going to happen — and most of the time it does. I’m always on the lookout for something awesome, and when I keep my eyes open, it magically finds me. There’s no trick to it, other than expecting good things and then acknowledging when they arrive.

Today, I will believe that good things happen in 17s.

It’s gonna be a great day.