You can do the right things even when you’re wrong about why it’s right. It may be unwise to focus on the reasons when the action is what matters.

In the 1800s, Ignaz Semmelweis figured out that performing autopsies before delivering babies was causing undue deaths. After pushing for thorough hand washing before deliveries at his hospital, he helped save countless lives.

His theory about why hand washing was effective was wrong. Unfortunately, his animosity towards people who rejected his theory contributed to resistance to hand washing in other hospitals. Many lives that could have been saved were not. What if he had focused on action instead of reasons?

What do you do that works even though you’re not sure why? Do you avoid anything that works because you’re not sure why it does?