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I think I know everything of what I don’t know

Yesterday, I put together a presentation for my leadership class. It was a riveting presentation about the different stages a person goes through about being self-aware (kinda) taken from a book. At this point, it is also important to note that this is a cycle and a long term process. The stages themselves are pretty self explanatory (please don’t kill me for the rhyming scheme, it’s not mine!):

• I don’t know what I don’t know
• I know what I don’t know
• I grow and know and it starts to show
• I simply go because of what I know

This is fine for most self-motivated people, I think that it is a more or less a pretty standard transition between becoming aware of what you know and need to improve on to implementing what you do learn. However, I think most people get stuck on an “I think I know everything of what I don’t know” stage that really could be a hindrance to their self-development. It’s the stage where a person is thinking that what they know is actually enough and the learning stops. Or worse, they continue on the path being completely unaware of the world around them.

I think it’s a pretty dangerous situation to be in. So how do we avoid it? A few things come to mind.

• Be humble; I think taking the stance that you don’t know everything and there are things that another person can teach you will help in keeping out of this rut.
• Be a bit more proactive; I believe that it is a learning process and this process is circular. By being proactive, you continually search for ways to improve.
• Accept that change will happen; I believe that being more accepting of change is a key attribute. I heard somewhere that change is always a point of pain for people but there is an inherent difference between accepting the pain because you know it’s a good thing versus avoiding it.

Did I miss any?

11:28 am