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Your Perception Is Your Reality

by Hannes Oosthuizen

Last updated 10 Jul 2025

Your Perception Is Your Reality

Mark Manson once said

“The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience.”
And the inverse? “Accepting your negative experience is a positive one.”

Translation?
Sometimes the glass isn’t half full or half empty… it’s just glass.
And sometimes, a guy will walk right through that glass… and it’ll still blow your mind.

The Instagram Parable

I saw this clip the other day.

Dude tells his friend, “I can walk through this glass door.”
Friend goes, “That’s impossible.”
Dude says, “Exactly. That’s why it’s a magic trick.”

What happens next?
He walks in a very specific way… through the door -
By literally shattering it.
Did he get through it? Yes.
Did he use magic? No.
Did it match the expectation? Absolutely not.

But that’s the thing: perception framed the reality.
He said he’d walk through the door. And technically… he did.

Expectations Are Just Dressed-Up Assumptions

We do this every day - not just with broken doors, but in business, relationships, startups, product design, you name it.

The problem isn’t that people get things wrong.
It’s that they build an entire house on a foundation of zero context and act surprised when it collapses.

That’s why I hammer this into the Nexubis team:
Always ask why.
Always extract context.
Never settle for face value.

Because otherwise, you’re just pixel-pushing on a hunch - when you should be building from insight.

And clients?
They’ll tell you what they think they want.
Your job is to figure out what they actually need - and gently guide them there like it was their idea all along.
(Not manipulation. Just enlightened UX judo.)

Lack of Context = Lack of Clarity = Lack of Results

You can’t solve a problem you don’t understand.
You can’t design a solution for a goal you never fully defined.
And you definitely can’t build a meaningful product if all you’re doing is fulfilling surface-level requests.

This is true in business.
It’s true in life.
Hell, it’s even true in relationships.

So, sharpen your axe before you cut the tree.
Ask one more question.
Zoom out one more time.
Add one more layer of thought.

Final Thought: Learn to See Past the Glass

Most people stare at the glass.
Few ask what’s behind it.
Even fewer ask if it’s glass at all - or just something they’ve been told not to walk through.

Don’t be the guy waiting for permission.

Break the door if you have to.
Just make sure it’s for the right reason - and that you don’t cut yourself doing it.

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