School does a bad job of preparing you for life.
In school, you’re rewarded for knowing the “right” answer, for having a ready solution for every problem.
If you were rewarded for “doing well” in school, you were conditioned to believe that having the “right” answer is the way to ensure success.
The culture of “experts” in which we live also reinforces the idea that there are people who have earned a status of “knowing” more about certain topics. We assume that these “experts” must “know” the “right” solutions to the problems we face.
Even when it comes to our own lives, we can fall into the trap of believing what we “know.” For example, we may avoid doing certain things because we believe we “know” how they will turn out.
That’s not going to work.
That doesn’t work for me.
The Limits of “Knowing”
Here’s the problem with “knowing” the “right” answer:
The moment you think you know, you shut yourself off from new possibilities and deeper learning.
The truth is, even the most knowledgeable experts don’t have all the answers.
Often, it’s an outsider who introduces an innovative solution to a long-standing industry problem.
The people who are on the inside — who are the “experts” — are often too close to the issues to see where there is a space for innovation.
You can’t see your own blind spots.
The Benefits of Not Knowing
It can take someone who is a complete novice, who looks at a situation with a beginner’s mind, to ask
Why not try it this way?
The beginner has no preconceived notion of what will work or not work. They are not invested in maintaining the status quo. They don’t run the risk of feeling like years of trying to do things a certain way will be thrown out the window.
They are open to the experiment.
One of the best ways to expand your potential and possibilities is to take a position of beginner’s mind, even with respect to the things you know about yourself.
Especially with the things you think you know about yourself.
Every day you wake up in a new body, in a world that is different from what it was yesterday.
What was true in the past may not be true today.
You may not know as much as you think you do.
And that’s OK.
In fact, it’s better than OK.
It could be the opening you need for a major breakthrough.
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