I’ve used the phrase “I know enough to know I don’t know enough” many times, to many people, and I’m aware that although they nod their heads in understanding, they really don’t know what I mean; therefore, I’ll explain by way of example.
Have you ever been in school and received an assignment which meant a lot of reading, like say, in marketing, and, while reading the required topic, trying your best to understand, the author or authors, refer you to another chapter, another book, maybe even another author, one that’s more famous, talented or both, than them.
Now, you being an astute student, go hunting for that chapter, book and/or author, because you want to pass; then what happens, somewhere in that new text, you’re referred to another chapter, book, or author.
This is the genesis of the above-mentioned title; the more you learn, the more you learn that you have more to learn. A never-ending cycle, hence the reason some people consider themselves life-long learners, I count myself among them, within reason of course, reason and boundaries.
For primary and high school, you’re told what to learn and, which class to go to; no choice given really, then some guidance counsellor asks you a random question about what you want to be when you grow up; they put on a career day, and a bunch of people show up, all with different professions, professing the value of their careers and the hard work needed to attain it.
Very few institutions, teachers, even parents, actually sit the kids down and have a candid discussion with them about their future; the end result: a whole lot of adults with skills they’ll never get to practise, formulas they’ll never use and, quotes that no one wants them to repeat; I mean really, how many times since leaving school have you used the formula: a² – b² = (a-b)(a+b), probably not a lot of us, because there’s not much call for that while typing a letter for your boss, or posting a journal entry in the system that should make work easier, but actually makes it harder.
a² – b² = (a-b)(a+b) can’t help you with calculating the income tax for the salary of the person that’s on no-pay leave for 10 days; or maybe it can and I just don’t know how to use it, the point is, we don’t get to use all this information that was forced upon us in ‘traditional’ schools.
The rapper Tupac Shakur, once said that school should teach kids reading, writing and arithmetic, anything after that should be geared towards their future. Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be exposed to different things, far from it, for how would you know if you like a thing, if you’ve never tried it; no, I’m simply saying, focus should be placed on identifying that ‘thing’, then and only then, should that student be bombarded with all the tools needed to be successful at that ‘thing’; both directly and indirectly related.
Therefore, someone who wants to be a pilot will most definitely need physics, meteorology, mathematics and English; the internationally accepted language of that profession, but how about training them in sign language; everyone, from every walk of life, travels by air, so, wouldn’t it be nice of pilots could communicate efficiently with ALL their passengers.
This is just an example of a trajectory that could be taken by educational institutions, contrary to the rigidity of the systems most institutions employ now.
The point of all of that above, is to highlight the fact that I have become quite selective in what I learn; if I am unable to see the current or potential future benefit of a subject, I will not be enthused to learn it. While the fact that the moon’s gravitational pull affects the ocean’s tides, that is not a subject I’d spend much time investigating, unless of course, it’s a character in one of my fiction novels, then, I’m going to learn more about it than NASA; however, until then, seafarers, fishermen and luxury cruise lines can have it, I’ll check the weather channel to see if today is a good day for the beach.
I’m a self-published author, with aspirations of selling hundreds, thousands, even millions of my books, eventually having them turn into movies like, The Davinci Code, The Godfather, The Devil Wears Prada, and Harry Potter, or into TV shows like, Reacher, Game of Thrones, Bosch and Outlander; so, book marketing, social media, editing, audiobooks, and anything else that can directly or indirectly assist me in getting my work to my target audience, know that I’m going to seek it out, and when that page, blog, book or video refers me to another page, blog, book or video, I’m gonna go, because I can never know enough about the thing I want to know about.
Some trades men, like mechanics, carpenters or painters, get taught a particular skill at an early age; they become masters of it, and for a time, they flourish; however, business has dwindled, clients have vanished, and now they’ve had to resort to, stripping down cars at a chop shop, working at a hardware store because their skill is no longer in high demand or, maybe they’ve resorted to an office job, because their painting technique takes too much time, so no one hires them.
I’m constantly learning, and from that learning comes humility and epiphany; I really don’t know shit. This kind of realisation can be daunting if you’re not prepared to hear it; however, once you are, you just have to remember: you will never know everything, but you’ll know more than you did yesterday, and like Michael Jackson said, “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.” So, always keep this in mind:
SLOW PROGRESS IS BETTER THAN NO PROGRESS.
Later.
Thanks for indulging my ramblings. If you enjoyed my deliberations, be sure to check out my thriller novels The Martial Art and On Jamaica Government Service on various platforms. They’re available in eBook, Paperback and Hardcover, and Audiobooks coming soon.
However, if you’re having commitment issues, check out my FREE short story, The Martial Art Origins: Severance, available as a free download.
You can explore my site for more interesting content.
Keep Reading. Cheers.
Dane