You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

This is what’s stopping you knowing more.

“If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.” ― Thomas Jefferson

I’d guess most of us have heard this quote, or some variation of it, sometime before. Well, it’s worth repeating and repeating often.

You Know What to Do

If there’s absolutely nothing else you need or crave, carry on in the same way as you always have and take comfort knowing that you’ve won. You’ve completed life so give yourself a big hearty, pat on the shoulder.

For the other 99.9% of people though, if there’s something that needs a tweak, something that could make your life a little easier, a bit less stressful or even help zap a bit of excitement into your life, then you need to check yourself into the unknown. But you knew that already.

You’ve read plenty of self-help books. You’ve watched the TED talks. You may have even exchanged your hard-earned cash for tickets to a seminar or two. You know what to do but, still, something’s missing, it never seems to quite work out for you — the only reason why is because you’re hesitating, you’re limiting yourself.

Camp Unknown

The Unknown — It’s a strange place. Depending on your outlook, it could mean one of a handful of things ranging from curiosity to absolute horror and a whole host of other emotions in between.

For some, the ‘unknown’ is intriguing. The mystery of what could be hiding behind the closed door sends pulses racing. For everyone else, it looks more like dread and anxiety.

I’ll let you decide what camp you stay in, but whichever you choose, the outcome should be the same — You need to move towards it anyway; Run, walk, crawl, drag yourself, it doesn’t matter. What matters is we take action to step into the unknown.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

To move closer to a goal requires action. If you don’t know the outcome of something, you have no reason to fear it. Attack it and trust yourself. Let your desires be your motivation.

We have to remember that the reason we hesitate is that we regularly fill our minds with unfounded doubts.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. Give yourself a break. Remember that it’s impossible to know what you don’t know; if things don’t work out, it was inevitable. Nothing’s lost, you’re no further forward, but you’re no further back either.

Have you ever been so worried about something but you went ahead and did it anyway?

Now think, if you were in that position again, do you think you’d be as concerned, if at all? I’d guess not, and this is the power of experience it helps make the unknown known.

A Few Final Words

Sometimes we need to accept that we know what we know, and we don’t know what we don’t.

It’s easy to be confident if we have reason to believe that the outcome will be favourable, it’s not so simple when we have no idea what will happen.

The reason, we’re short of being the person we want to be is because we put too much thought into the unknown. It’s easier said than done, but when there’s no way of knowing an outcome, there’s little point worrying yourself over it. Do the things you’ve never done before, and find out what actually happens instead.

Make it your objective to move closer to your ideal by moving the needle forward every day. Put yourself in situations that are uncomfortable to you.

They will get easier with time and with practice, you’ll wonder why you were ever so hesitant.

Before You Leave

Thanks for being here. I’d love to keep in touch so join my mailing list now for semi-regular e-mails about what’s been occupying my mind over recent weeks.