Of course everyone in my generation knows the magic words taught to us by our parents, please and thank you. We used those at my insurance agency, but the phrase I don’t know, was even more important. Clients called to ask if a certain hazard was covered by their policy. If we weren’t sure, our response would be “I don’t know.” Then we would add, I’ll find out and get back with you.
Telling them the wrong thing could lead to lots of problems. That’s why I didn’t write much business insurance. Those policies are much more complex. I didn’t know what I didn’t know, which is a dangerous place to be.
When I decided to coach basketball beyond the simple church league level, I had that problem. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I got help from my friend Bill who was more experienced. He started teaching me by finding out what I didn’t know. He did that by learning what I did know.
Identifying what I do know and what I don’t know has been a huge help in my life. When I’m about to rely on information to make a decision I stop and think, how do I know that? These words work like magic also. I know incredibly little compared to the flood of information that comes my way every day.
There are different levels of knowing. I can look at a burner glowing orange on the stove and know it’s hot. If I put my hand on that burner I know it at a much deeper level. The things I experience first hand in the present moment I know at the deepest level. Even those things can be known differently, through my physical senses, logic, and/or intuition.
Depending on things I have experienced in the past is less reliable based on the amount of time that has gone by and my emotional state then. Memory is not foolproof.
Information outside of my own personal experience lets in the rest of the world. Who is the source? What are their motives and expertise? Where and when did they get their information? How did they arrive at their conclusions? Was it research based, conjecture, or just a hunch?
Navigating my life not knowing what I don’t know is a perilous journey. It can lead to a wide variety of problems. I’m better off depending on what I do know and carefully finding out more information when what I know is insufficient. I do know the words, I don’t know and how do I know this work almost like magic. Nothing more complicated than perception.
May you have enough today, one moment at a time.
THIS HELPED ME 