Things you thought you knew but just aren’t true

It’s embarrassing to find out one has known something for sure, impressed colleagues with said knowledge, imparted said wisdom to one’s offspring or students, and then later found out it was complete nonsense.

Here are a few of my favourites:

• Go outside in the cold with wet hair and you will catch a cold. Of course, bacteria and viruses give us a ‘cold’, not temperature. There's a small argument to be had that hypothermia impedes our immune system, but at that point you should be more worried about heart and lung failure than a cold.
• Risk maturity is a thing. It isn’t. It was a marketing ploy lots of people fell for, and lots of other people made money from those that fell for it. But you should have an idea of what tools, technique, processes would be considered a high standard for your organisation’s circumstances – and then try to achieve them.
• You must wait an hour after a meal before swimming. The idea is that your limbs will be deprived of the energy necessary to swim because it is being used for digestion. In truth, digestion uses very little energy.
• Heat maps are a useful tool for risk management. They aren’t – a quick Google will explain that. Nobody knows where this idea originated, but it is the most widely believed myth in this list.
• White wine will get out a red wine stain from your carpet. Actually, it will just make it nice and pink. I’ve tried it.
• Eating carrots help you see in the dark. There is a fantastic history to this myth - an awesome bit of WW2 propaganda by the RAF.
• Reading in dim light damages your eyes. It just makes them dry and sore but you will suffer no long-term effects.
• Risk management should be extremely simple to do. That one is half true – like engineering should be very simple if your aspirations are to build a seesaw, but they’ll fall short if you are hoping to design the next Tesla. Cooking should be very simple if your aspirations are a midnight toastie, but maybe not if its your wedding day. Medicine we can all do if it’s a cut on your thumb, trickier if it's appendicitis. Luckily, most businesses face very little risk, so extremely simple risk management is more than sufficient for their needs.