Do your own research (DYOR) vs Assumptions

When I decided to write about this topic I was in the middle of moving house - where due to assumptions (that turned out to be incorrect) my sofa became stuck in the staircase of my apartment and I overloaded my TV with excessive electrical voltage.

So what does this have to do with DYOR vs Assumptions you may ask. Well the initial result achieved for both the sofa move and tv connection was one not desired. It was not desired as I had acted on assumptions of information that were actually not correct and thus my own actions were not appropriate. If I had done my own research I would have identified prior to attempts made that the sofa was too large to fit into the actual width of the staircase rather than assuming by sight (and because it fit into my New York apartment) that it would fit easily and no way be too large.

Same goes with my TV set. Being a nice HD tv I assumed (because I wanted it to work) that I could take a US tv set and plug straight into a UK powerpoint. I assumed it would work because I also didn't want to make it any extra work than necessary. In psychology they call is 'heuristic' decision making because it is based on subjective rules of thumb.

Whilst DYOR will ensure that planning a goal will take more time it will also ensure that (1) your objectives and goals will more likely to be met (2) you will be more in control of your objectives (less stress, more satisfaction etc) and (3) there is reduced risk of unknown problems eventuating which could lead to waste of time and money (wasted time also inferring wasted money).

Now I have to sell my sofa and buy a new one plus have my tv repaired. This is additional time and money spent that could have been avoided if I had planned more effectively by undertaking research in advance.