I was listening to Chris Moyles on Radio X recently when something made me laugh out loud and then stop and think. It was about phone numbers. Specifically, the way we read them out.

When we give someone our phone number, most of us start with “Oh seven…” Not zero seven. “Oh seven.”

Except, of course, it isn’t an “O” at all. It’s a zero and we’ve been saying it wrong our entire lives.

What made it even funnier was the realisation that we all know it’s technically incorrect and yet we keep doing it anyway. No one questions it.

No one stops mid-number to say, “Hang on, that’s actually a zero.” We just carry on, because that’s how it’s always been done.

But once you notice it, you can’t unsee it. And once you start thinking about it, it opens up a much bigger question.

Why do we continue to do things the wrong way even when we know they’re wrong?

Sometimes, of course, we get something wrong, learn from it, and do something different. That’s growth. That’s how progress happens. We gather new information, reflect, and adjust our behaviour accordingly.

But other times we get things wrong and just… keep going. We repeat patterns that don’t serve us. We cling to habits that feel outdated. We continue with ways of thinking or behaving that don’t quite sit right but we stick with them anyway. Sometimes even when our intuition says something is off.

Why do we do that?

Maybe it’s because from a very young age, we’re taught that there is a “right” way to do things. A correct approach. An accepted norm. And once something becomes normalised, we stop questioning it. If everyone else is doing it, why would we challenge it?

So we don’t. We say “O” instead of zero. We follow rules we never consciously agreed to. We accept advice that doesn’t fully resonate. We live lives that look fine on the outside but feel slightly misaligned on the inside. We assume that if something is familiar, it must be true. But familiarity isn’t truth.

Not everything we’ve been conditioned to believe is correct. Or helpful. Or right for us.

Some beliefs were handed down by parents, teachers, or authority figures. Some came from culture, media, or so-called “experts.” Some were shaped by fear, survival, or a need to belong. Over time, these beliefs become so embedded that we don’t even realise we’re operating from them. They become automatic, like saying “Oh seven.”

The thing is, our bodies and our intuition often know before our minds catch up. There are signals: a tightening in the chest, a sinking feeling in the stomach, or a persistent sense that something doesn’t quite fit.

But many of us have been trained to override those signals. We tell ourselves we’re being dramatic. Or ungrateful. Or difficult. We convince ourselves that someone else knows better. So we push through, we ignore the signs and we stay on autopilot.

And yet intuition is always there. Listening to your own truth doesn’t mean rejecting everything you’ve ever been told. It doesn’t mean being rebellious for the sake of it. It means staying curious. Staying awake and being willing to pause and ask “Is this actually right for me?”

You don’t have to believe something just because it’s common. You don’t have to continue doing something just because you’ve always done it that way. You don’t have to silence your inner knowing to keep the peace or fit in. You are allowed to question, change your mind or do things differently even if it feels uncomfortable at first. Even if everyone else still says “Oh seven.”

That little moment on the radio was a reminder that awareness often starts with the smallest things. Everyday assumptions, harmless habits and the stuff we don’t think to question. Because once you realise that something as simple as a phone number has been wrong all along, you start to wonder what else might be worth questioning too.

With love as always.