Obviously, we are evolving and learning all the time. Each day is filled with new pieces of information and observations, no matter how small or bland and unimportant they seem to be.
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For several weeks, this post stood still. There was nothing but the title and the first two sentences. I wrote it because it was the right time to do so, and I knew this to be the title and the first sentences. Therefore, I posted it. I did not know more than that. Was I wondering why I didn’t wait until the article was complete? Yes, but I l e a r n e d to trust my impulses and innate instincts.
Today, I can add something about the beauty of walking just the step you know. Just the one step you know.
because this is part of the process.
Growing up in (school) systems that judge – and ‘score’ our learning appearances – we were taught that it is not profitable to NOT know something. The state of not knowing becomes a very uncomfortable one. Standing in front of the class, not knowing the answer, turns into a situation to be avoided. Not knowing the answer is easily connected to feeling like a failure, stamped with bad grades, and bad reviews. Same with skills. When you are not blessed with a natural talent that shows immediately, our social gatherings and education systems usually do not provide us with the joy of not knowing how to do something.
It’s funny – and both, sad – that a system that operates in the field of learning and expanding knowledge often does not transport the joyful excitement and benefits of expanding our knowledge (including skills). And yet, to expand your knowledge consciously, you first have to acknowledge that you do not know everything and that there is more information to gain, more to learn. But you are curious and willing to go for it.
This happens naturally when your individual interests and personal preferences kick in. Something that sparks your interest and gets you excited. Otherwise, you only learn the necessary basics, and that is fine. Education in all its forms can be broadly diversified, which can be beneficial in terms of options. At one point, usually after school, you can choose which aspects or fields you have an innate interest in and focus on following this path. You dive into it, expanding your knowledge, and experiences too. You become a student in your area of excitement.
Whatever you are going for, whatever you are interested in and want to build and create, when you are afraid of not knowing, you will experience resistance. Insecurity to show your art, your products, a hesitation to offer your services, to go after a high profile job can be a sign of it … maybe that is a moment we still stand in our very own inner classroom. Filled with the fear of public failure, a bad grade, a negative review, and external judgment.
Past experiences have turned into an internal system of fearing not – knowing. No external classroom is required at this point. You autonomously make yourself feel uncomfortable when you do not know everything and judge yourself. That makes it difficult to grow with joy and excitement in the areas we feel connected to and curious about.
In this context, learning and developing skills can become a strategy to avoid initiating or implementing. A strategy to avoid the next step. Procrastination. It may even lead to doing nothing at all. Suddenly, learning turns into something that prevents us from realizing what we are supposedly learning for. And the project, idea, dream, or possible career gets stuck in the field of research and gaining knowledge. The fear of not knowing enough – yet … and you continue to consume (information, training, tools) but barely create anything with it.
This fear will not disappear by teaching yourself more knowledge and skills and adding certificates and diplomas to your biography. Because the fear was never about the not-knowing. It was always about the reaction and response towards not knowing.
: Not knowing is an essential part of our nature. You could even go so far as to say we exist due to the unknown that wants to be discovered.
I know that I do not know. The infinite dance between the known and the unknown.
This is one of the greatest ‘lessons’ one can (l)earn walking this human path. Because it is truth. An eternal truth that will never fade and therefore is stable and solid ground when evolution shifts and changes the parameters of our external surroundings constantly, so do our very own interests and fields of exploration. Even when you know from early on what you want to do, you will evolve in that field and add more and more to it through your experiences. It is a mutual process. We are evolution. We are expansion. There is no ‘end’ to knowledge
When not knowing is such a natural treat, a beautiful tool for enjoying life’s adventures, and necessary for growing and expanding, why did I start with the hint to walk just the one step you know?
Because you take that one step you know towards the unknown.
I learned that sitting with not knowing (the follow-ups) leads to a momentum of knowing something – new. Something that does not appear by scrolling through the mind bibliography of past experiences, but something connected to the current and fresh moment (of you). No repetition but part of a new experience, adding to it, bringing growth into it, and making it fresh and exciting.
But when you fear the unknown (or rather possible reactions and responses) and you don’t want to move without knowing every possible step following, you will remain in the field that is already known to you. You will repeat yourself. ‘Safe’ space, none to little development. The creative industry is a great place to observe people who do not dare to experiment and try themselves out but stick to the recipe that once brought success – and ironically was usually initiated by them taking a leap of faith in what they were interested and excited about.
Allow the not-knowing (of all to come) and invite the process. Take the one step you know right now, and move. Just do it. Yes, there is a reason Nike went for this slogan and why it is so successful. (Not to mention they named their brand after Nike, the Greek goddess personifying victory. They really went for it.)
Your path will unfold while walking. Because in the ‘end’ there is only this very ‘first’ step. Always. There is only this step. Now. The next does not exist until you walk this one. And then, it will be this step right Now. When possible, be in that attitude at every step you take. Your way will be authentic, fresh, and full of beautiful discoveries. You will learn a lot, naturally and with joy. *
Note to myself for this new path and journey of mine, yeah.
Have a great day, everybody out there, expanding their path – and knowledge, and skills, and experiences, and so on ..
shortlist: go. the 1 step, in the n o w
* the archetype of the Student implies the/a Master (and the student’s path toward mastery). The Master embodies the alchemy of turning information and knowledge into experiences and then turning experiences into wisdom. He embodies the I know that I do not know.