The Older You Get, the Less You Know

What? Really. What I mean is that as you gain experience you realize how much you don’t know and become (hopefully) more comfortable admitting it. We all experience conversations where the other person tells you they know about something or someone, but is or becomes clear they don’t. You see this more in younger or less experienced people, but anyone can do it.

Most times it comes from inexperience and insecurity. We are not supposed to know everything and everyone. We can be in a position at any age, where we are learning something new. Ask the extra question. How else can you learn? If you act like you know it all, you never will, and it will catch up to you. You want to be an expert, but Gladwell’s 10,000 Hour Rule is real in that if you don’t put in the time you never will really be the expert you want to be.

You may be thinking it is okay to “fake it ’til you make it.” But this is a cliché, and needs to be taken with a dose of reality. If you want to become an expert in anything, especially professionally, you need to spend time and invest in yourself, i.e. the 10,000 Hour Rule. Faking it only can take you a short distance whereas investing in yourself and being a lifetime learner will continue to move the needle in the direction you want.

So be honest when you don’t know something and see what you learn.

As always, this post and others can be found on my blog, at  BusinessLawGuy’s Blog.