This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 2390, the worst piece of advice I've ever received, by a landmassicottofreadapursuit.com, and I'm just a molecular-very-owned personal narrator. I read to you every day covering productivity, minimalism, personal development, all that fun stuff, so that's to get right to another article and start optimizing your life. The worst piece of advice I have ever received by a landmassicottofreadapursuit.com In my mid-20s, I had the opportunity to work for one of the most influential people in my city. I was both elated and apprehensive.
I knew I learned a great deal from this powerful woman, but what I didn't expect was that I'd get the worst piece of advice ever. During one of our many meetings she asked me about my thoughts on a matter. I don't remember what it was about exactly, but what I do remember is that I didn't feel like I had a certain view on the topic because I didn't think I knew enough about it to comment. Her reaction came as a surprise.
I know I'd and or disdainful she informed me that you must always have an opinion. I sheepishly took the admonition and vowed to always have an opinion because that's what successful people do. This promise to myself to always have an opinion could a great deal of pressure on me. I started feeling that I needed to be on top of it all.
The news, all aspects of our business, my personal beliefs, the latest arts and entertainment, everything. The result? I knew everything and nothing at the same time. Looking back at this erroneous piece of advice, I think the idea of always having an opinion is akin to our fear of ever saying, I don't know.
We seem to treat those few words as some sort of poison, even when they're the truth, even when there's really no reason for us to know the answer or even have one. To answer a question with a made-up answer with a baseless opinion is worse than useless. The utterance that may help us safe-face in some way is also incredibly destructive. Stating an opinion we don't have or lying corners us into a point of view we may not want to hold, we can become invested in a false position, causes us to lie perpetually to cover up the deceit, causes us to spread this or misinformation as the recipient communicates to what we've said to others, and causes us to dismiss our curiosity to know more.
I think you'll agree that these are not desirable outcomes. The power of I don't know. I don't know, our powerful words, they do a lot for us as individuals and a lot for us as communities of individuals. Being able to say we don't know something makes it possible for us to choose to know a lot about what matters most to us means state ignorance of what matters the least.
Ignorance is not a bad word, it simply means having a lack of knowledge or information. We're all ignorant in some ways because we can't be knowledgeable about everything, no winning a jeopardy doesn't necessarily mean you're smart. Acknowledging that we don't have an opinion about something can also help us determine whether we want to develop one by learning more about a topic. We can decide whether we want to move past the sound bites we hear from opposing parties and dig into an issue to learn more.
It's the wise person's answer. I've come to realize that most people who always have an answer know very little. They may know facts and figures made up or actual, but much of what is called knowledge these days is just bits and pieces of information, sound bites heard on a newscast. They see the world as binary, you either have an opinion or you don't, you either know the answer or you don't.
This belief can't be further from the truth. That's because the more we dig into a topic, the grayer it gets. We become aware of how thoughts and beliefs evolved, of dependencies, exceptions, of the need for additional context. True knowledge is like an iceberg.
The black and white answer is like the visible part of the iceberg. All the gray is hidden from view until you dive into the subject matter to get a better view. And that dive can feel overwhelming. But only once we've taken it can we really say we understand why we know or believe what we do.
Ignorance is bliss. The more I read, the more I learn, the more I understand that saying I don't know isn't a sign of weakness. Saying it depends, or I don't know enough about it to have an opinion, isn't either. It says a lot more about what we care about, care to know about, than any other answer can offer.
It makes it clear what we spend our time thinking about and learning about. It also invites others to offer us information we may want or need to hear, information that may peak our curiosity sufficiently to decide to look further into a topic. It may lead to some fascinating conversations where we feel no pressure to offer information we don't have, but to be the recipient of thoughts and insights we didn't know even existed. I don't know.
It's about the most powerful statement we can make. I don't know. It's a sign of the wisdom of knowing that being aware of our own ignorance truly is bliss. You just listened to the post titled The Worst Piece of Advice I Have Ever Received by Len Masikat of FreeToPursuit.com.
Thank you to Len. This definitely hit home for me. There are plenty of things you can ask me about, of which I won't have a strong opinion or simply won't know what I think in the moment. And this is something I actively try to be honest about that I simply don't know.
Almost to a fault possibly because I can be a bit apathetic about some things, not everything. But definitely some areas. Like she said, if it's something we want to learn more about, we can. We have the opportunity to do that if we wish.
But acknowledging that we don't have all the answers in the first place really is the first step in that learning process, being aware that we don't know it all. And honestly, if I had to choose between apathy and pretending to be knowledgeable about something that I'm really not, I would definitely take the apathetic side for the reasons she talked about in this article. I do agree that a baseless opinion is worse than none at all. So try to be honest about your own opinion or lack of opinion I should say and I'll see you tomorrow for the Friday show, where you're optimal life awaits.