Tag: knowing

The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing. -Socrates

I’d like to share some advice with you that will not only be helpful now, it will also save you a lot of time when you’re older. It might not seem to make much sense when you first think about it but bear with me.

Let’s look at the quote above again to start.

The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing. -Socrates

You might wonder how this can be true. Doesn’t being wise mean knowing a lot of things? Doesn’t it mean you know what to do and when to do it? Doesn’t it mean you’ve been there, done that and learned your lessons? Yes, I suppose on sort of a basic level this is true but this is more like being educated than wise. So, dig a little deeper with me.

If you walk around thinking you have all the answers all the time do you: 1) really believe that deep down and 2) ever wonder if you’re missing out on something bigger?  The thing is, it’s actually ok not to know. In fact, if you live your life with this openness and willingness to not know, you end up learning and knowing a lot more.

When you think you know all the answers that’s your ego at work. If you’ve been following this blog at all you know that your ego or that little voice in your head is not actually the real you. The ego is a big know it all. It has all the answers and knows what’s best for you and everyone else. If you step back and think about it though how can this be true? How can you possibly be right all the time? You can’t and frankly, that’s pretty terrifying to most people. It’s scary to realize that you might not be right. That you might not have all the answers.That you might actually need to be open to learning things along the way. That you might actually – gasp – be wrong!  This scares the hell out of your ego and that’s why most of us walk around thinking we know it all when we actually know very little.

Don’t live your life like this.

Be open to learning.

Be open to not knowing.

Be open to feeling vulnerable and afraid of what you don’t know.

This is where true learning happens.

This is how you truly become wise.