Common sense. It seems so, well, common.

Truth of the matter is: it’s not.

I mean, common common sense is a little more prevalent than for which I give it credit. But your common sense?

Nope. Not common, at all.

You see, your common sense is different than everyone else’s common sense. Your common sense is based on the experience you have derived from doing the same thing, day in and day out. By focusing. By digging.

And it’s completely subjective. That common sense that you have. So that stuff that seems so obvious? It’s not. And that forehead-slapping “what is that guy thinking?” response you have on a regular basis? That blunder on his part is not as painfully obvious as you might assume.

In fact, even if I were doing exactly the same thing you’re doing, day in and day out, it wouldn’t necessarily be obvious to me. I might have my own cadre of common sense that I thought you should already know.

And that’s my point: Common sense is anything by common.

And that’s why we need to work on over-communicating what we know. And why it is important. And how we have learned to get there.

Because that’s where the value of your common sense lies.

And we need to get away from assuming that “Oh, everyone else knows this stuff. I’m nothing special.”

You know more about what you do than I do, or he does, or she does. In fact, we’re all pretty ignorant in the realm of your common sense.

What seems obvious to you? It isn’t. Your common sense is not so common.