We value knowledge. As group living animals we feel that knowledge moves us up the hierarchy. But what we fail to see that our knowledge often makes us narrow-minded.
We may say that we seek to learn more, but we mainly seek to strengthen our opinion and seldom to disprove it, fearing that disproving it may make us seem stupid. We act as solid rock instead as moldable clay and by doing this we stop to develop, stop moving forward.
To develop as people we should learn from those around us that are wiser. Those who accept that they don't know everything and those who aren't afraid asking questions will make them look stupid. Those who allow themselves to develop. We should learn from children.
Children have a powerful tool most of us forget as we grow up. A tool that allows them to constantly learn more, to constantly improve and get better. That tool is the question "Why?". They not only ask people around them "Why?", they also constantly ask themselves "Why?". This "Why?" is what allows them to not only learn from others, but also to learn from their own actions and choices. By asking "Why?" they question both the world and their own actions, and by doing this they see ways to improve and develop as people.
As we grow up we are often thought to follow "facts", what our teachers tell us or what is written in a book, and not to question these facts, not to ask "Why?" this fact is true. By not questioning we learn not to learn, we close ourselves of from finding new and better solutions.
For the longest time Europeans knew for a fact that all swans where white since all swans they saw where white. But a while after Europeans came to Australia, where there are black swans, this "fact" got thrown out the window. All that remains of that "fact" is the question "How many white swans do you have to see to determine that there are no black swans?"
By learning to ask "Why?" and to question, not mainly what others tell us but ourselves, we open ourselves up to learn more, to get better at what we do. We learn how to get more productive by being more efficient and not by working more hours (working more hours soon makes us less productive by making us tired which decreases our focus which in turn makes us make more bad choices that we have to redo). Working more efficient allows us to get more done which gives us more experience and help us improve even more.
As with everything else, there are both positive and negative sides with asking "Why?". Asking a question starting with "Why" often makes the question sound harsh, like trying to put somebody down rather than helping (Why are you doing this? Why haven't you done that? Why! Why! Why!). I believe it is better to, when questioning somebody else, not to use why since it easily makes the recipient defensive. When we're defensive we're not open to learn since our energy is on defending our opinion. I believe a better solution is to try to entice the recipient to ask herself questions about what she has done, how she came to that solution and why those choices where made. In other words, help her to learn more.
We also need to be carefull in how we use "Why?" to question our own work and ideas since we can make ourselves defensive and make us hesitate and falter in our decision making and in taking action and moving towards our goals. To prevent this we need remember that what we should analyse is our past actions and question why we got the result we got and, by doing this, learn from those choices and actions to help us make our choices today.
It is only from things that we have experienced that we can receive the practical knowledge that allows us to truly learn. Things we have only planned to do, or things we only have second, third or forth hand experience of (that is reading, lectures etc.) is only theoretical knowledge. Although theoretical knowledge does help us, theoretical knowledge is only knowledge in theory untill it is put in practice and experienced so that we can see if our interpretation of it really is helpful.
Trying to choose our actions based on theoretical knowledge gives us less confidence in our choices which easily puts our focus on fearing a failure rather than the task at hand. If we instead look at what we've learned from our experiences we have more confidence in that what we choose to do is what will take us the biggest step closer to our goal. Having the attitude that the chosen action, rather than being a perfect solution, is an experience to learn from and improve from, we decrease our fear of failure even more. We end up having more of an "improvement mindset" instead of a "failure mindset".
As soon as we think we know exactly what we're doing, as soon as we see ourselves as experts who know most there is to know about a subject, we close ourselves in and stop to learn. As we stop to learn and our abilities stop to develop, our abilities will, like flower that no longer grows, start to wither.
Asking "Why?" is a great tool to help us see that we can improve, to help us find better processes and work methods that'll make us become more efficient, get more experience and learn even more. If we learn that not knowing doesn't make us stupid, that we should embrace uncertainty and learn from our mistakes, we learn to be as wise as a child, to be as moldable as a piece of clay.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create."
-Einstein
I hope you have enjoyed this article!
Peter Hertzberg
We may say that we seek to learn more, but we mainly seek to strengthen our opinion and seldom to disprove it, fearing that disproving it may make us seem stupid. We act as solid rock instead as moldable clay and by doing this we stop to develop, stop moving forward.
To develop as people we should learn from those around us that are wiser. Those who accept that they don't know everything and those who aren't afraid asking questions will make them look stupid. Those who allow themselves to develop. We should learn from children.
Children have a powerful tool most of us forget as we grow up. A tool that allows them to constantly learn more, to constantly improve and get better. That tool is the question "Why?". They not only ask people around them "Why?", they also constantly ask themselves "Why?". This "Why?" is what allows them to not only learn from others, but also to learn from their own actions and choices. By asking "Why?" they question both the world and their own actions, and by doing this they see ways to improve and develop as people.
As we grow up we are often thought to follow "facts", what our teachers tell us or what is written in a book, and not to question these facts, not to ask "Why?" this fact is true. By not questioning we learn not to learn, we close ourselves of from finding new and better solutions.
For the longest time Europeans knew for a fact that all swans where white since all swans they saw where white. But a while after Europeans came to Australia, where there are black swans, this "fact" got thrown out the window. All that remains of that "fact" is the question "How many white swans do you have to see to determine that there are no black swans?"
By learning to ask "Why?" and to question, not mainly what others tell us but ourselves, we open ourselves up to learn more, to get better at what we do. We learn how to get more productive by being more efficient and not by working more hours (working more hours soon makes us less productive by making us tired which decreases our focus which in turn makes us make more bad choices that we have to redo). Working more efficient allows us to get more done which gives us more experience and help us improve even more.
As with everything else, there are both positive and negative sides with asking "Why?". Asking a question starting with "Why" often makes the question sound harsh, like trying to put somebody down rather than helping (Why are you doing this? Why haven't you done that? Why! Why! Why!). I believe it is better to, when questioning somebody else, not to use why since it easily makes the recipient defensive. When we're defensive we're not open to learn since our energy is on defending our opinion. I believe a better solution is to try to entice the recipient to ask herself questions about what she has done, how she came to that solution and why those choices where made. In other words, help her to learn more.
We also need to be carefull in how we use "Why?" to question our own work and ideas since we can make ourselves defensive and make us hesitate and falter in our decision making and in taking action and moving towards our goals. To prevent this we need remember that what we should analyse is our past actions and question why we got the result we got and, by doing this, learn from those choices and actions to help us make our choices today.
It is only from things that we have experienced that we can receive the practical knowledge that allows us to truly learn. Things we have only planned to do, or things we only have second, third or forth hand experience of (that is reading, lectures etc.) is only theoretical knowledge. Although theoretical knowledge does help us, theoretical knowledge is only knowledge in theory untill it is put in practice and experienced so that we can see if our interpretation of it really is helpful.
Trying to choose our actions based on theoretical knowledge gives us less confidence in our choices which easily puts our focus on fearing a failure rather than the task at hand. If we instead look at what we've learned from our experiences we have more confidence in that what we choose to do is what will take us the biggest step closer to our goal. Having the attitude that the chosen action, rather than being a perfect solution, is an experience to learn from and improve from, we decrease our fear of failure even more. We end up having more of an "improvement mindset" instead of a "failure mindset".
As soon as we think we know exactly what we're doing, as soon as we see ourselves as experts who know most there is to know about a subject, we close ourselves in and stop to learn. As we stop to learn and our abilities stop to develop, our abilities will, like flower that no longer grows, start to wither.
Asking "Why?" is a great tool to help us see that we can improve, to help us find better processes and work methods that'll make us become more efficient, get more experience and learn even more. If we learn that not knowing doesn't make us stupid, that we should embrace uncertainty and learn from our mistakes, we learn to be as wise as a child, to be as moldable as a piece of clay.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create."
-Einstein
I hope you have enjoyed this article!
Peter Hertzberg
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