Beware of these 2 words
Gagan Malhotra
Market Entry Strategist | Global Sourcing & Business Solutions | Expert in Perfumes, Footwear, Fashion, Licensing, E-commerce | Driving Growth, Profitability & Building International Partnerships.
Just this morning, I reminded my teenage son (dozing on the bed) for the nth time that he was late for his crucial meeting and all I got in return was a mumbled “I know”. And when I checked up 30 minutes later, the scene and the response was no different. His “I know” gave him a false sense of security and that kept him on the bed much longer than necessary at the expense of what was important to him.
And this is not an isolated instance that is unique to teens. All of us suffer from this quirk without realizing the crushing impact on our lives. The relentless pursuit of knowledge (that includes data, information, insights and whatever we want to call) that we have made a way of life is actually the biggest barrier to us living a life that we really want to!!
And it is all-pervading! Be it our finances, our health, our career, our relationships and pretty much everything, we begin to lose out the moment we say “I know” and be content with that!! What’s worse, we actually don’t know anything when we say “I know”!! If we 'really knew', we wouldn't be saying it but be taking the necessary action.
It stops us from observing, listening to life and participating in it as it unfolds around us all the time.
Some examples:
When a trainer talks about the need to know your customer, we shut the rest of his / her inputs because “I know” it is important for me to know my customer, so what’s new?
When our boss tells us how critical it is to plan the week ahead, we automatically turn the attention off because “I know” it already.
If you think that I am exaggerating, just recall the last time you said silently or aloud “I know” and you can clearly see the dark veil it has dropped on your view of life. And that in turn impacts the actions or the inactions in that area.
The next time around, when we are reading an article or listening to someone, let’s try to keep the “I know” out of the picture and experience the difference.
Good luck and God bless! I am really excited…..
Cheers, Happy Reading
Gagan Malhotra