Hidden Rooms.

If you know me well, you likely know that "know it all's" are one of my biggest pet-peeves. People who swear they know everything, are never wrong, and have nothing new to learn. I think my biggest complaint with this mentality is that it seems to always comes from people who have (what I would argue) a terrible perspective and outlook on life. If there is one thing I know for certain at this point in my life, it's that I don't know it all. I have always loved the idea that there are three categories of knowledge - What you know, what you know you don't know, and what you don't know you don't know.

A great example of this would be a friend's home with a hidden room. You know what their kitchen looks like, you know what the bathroom looks like, you know what the living room looks like. Those are the things you know. What you don't know could be related to their parent's bedroom. You know it exists, but you don't know what it looks like. You know that you don't know. Let's say this friend asks if he can give you a tour of the house. You'd likely think, "Uhmm. Dude. I've been here like 100 times. I don't need a tour. I know your house." They give you a tour, and this time they show you the hidden room behind the bookshelf that they have never shown you nor told you about. You had no idea it was there, and you certainly had no idea what it looked like. You don't know what you don't know; that's the hidden room.

The truth is that the world is vast, and there are lots of "Hidden Rooms" among us as a population; let alone if we as individuals try and rely on our own knowledge. There is a lot more that we don't know than we do know. The most important thing then, is to keep learning. Always have the attitude that you don't know. Even if you think you know, you might learn something you didn't know you didn't know.

The sad truth is that the future generations seem to be guilty of this more and more. They go to college and assume they know everything. I can't tell you how many people I know that have majored in something and swear they know it all - to be fair I catch myself being guilty of this at times. I haven't graduated yet, but I LOVE learning about leadership. It's a major reason that I started this blog. I often find myself believing the lie that I know a lot about leadership, but the truth is that I don't. I only know what I know and what I don't know. I don't know what I don't know about leadership, and over the last few months there has turned out to be a lot that I didn't know I didn't know.

My Papa (Grandpa Hank) and I were talking this morning over breakfast and he made a great point. He said, "I think one of the greatest types of disservice a person can do to themselves is create a 'mental block' with people in their new careers." This mental block is a real thing. It's quite common among college graduate entering the workforce. They get frustrated when people in the field try to show them something new/different; a "hidden room." Just listen, if you already knew, great! If you didn't know, then you learned something!

Never stop listening and never stop learning. You may know a lot, but you don't know what you don't know. Let someone tour you through what you "already know" sometime... they might show you a hidden room.