Any social gathering, you come across a person who is always engaging in the high-end productive conversation who knows everything about everything.
If you ask a question and he knows about real estate, He ( because these are mostly guys who boast around in any social gatherings ) knows almost every bit of financing that an ordinary person should know.
A crowd gathers around that person engaging into an intelligent conversation and discussion anything from household to politics to what the president Trump should do for let’s say Iran.
Have you ever wondered that since that person knows this much of wisdom, he must be making tons of money!
That is counterintuitive. Knowing lots of things does not make you rich or productive.
Frequently knowledge makes you think that success is far away and may not possible.
I know a family friend, and I reach out for any question for real estate and mortgage questions if I have. He gave me all golden advice I benefited from, and he is aware of the most recent legislative changes. He does not own any real estate and lives a decent but straightforward life paying rent as long as I have known.
When I met him last time, I asked him why are you not doing it?
That was the point, he started elaborating all realistic, unrealistic risk factors in the different ranges of the probability of happening. He was so detailed about the risk that I saw fear-filled eyes to take exposure. At the same time, he felt sorry for missing opportunities in the past.
For him, knowledge has become a common excuse for procrastination.
What my take is, constant knowing and reading can give a false sense of accomplishment. Information overload can cause discouragement, misdirection, and eventually paralyze the goal orientation.
“It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.” — René Descartes
The conventional wisdom is the one most people know about. That means you are in competition with another few hundred million people and trying to win that competition in the same way they are trying to win.
The knowledge is the Power is half of the truth. Not knowing is the other half of the truth.
Sometimes not knowing and trying makes us pursue unconventional ways and disruptions in conventional approaches to do things.
Sara Blakely, who invented Spanx, had no experience in the clothing industry and knew nothing about it. Only characteristics she thought she had was a visualizer. All the mills and factory owner ( who had the knowledge and conventional wisdom) rejected and refused to produce her product.
“The big secret behind disruption is not having any idea how it’s supposed to be done,” “If you let what you don’t know become your greatest asset, you are bound to do things very differently.”
-Sara Blakely, at the Forbes Under 30 Summit.
Discover the Power of not knowing.
When knowledge tri-humps and boosts the ego, it is hard to acknowledge how much we don’t know. Here is the mental exercise Sara Blakely asks to do one task,
Pretend that no one taught you how to the job, but still, you have to do that. And come up with your own idea and ways to complete the job in a better way!
Question all conventional wisdom, take a risk by doing things differently and be immune to expected criticisms, especially form veteran colleagues. Unlearning and fresh perspective every time you face any situation, avoid going autopilot on any tasks.
Instead of being knowledge junkie, seek for required knowledge, and put it to work while you challenge the convention.
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Reading time 2 min 26 sec
Speaking time 4 min 41 sec