The More You Know

"The more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know. The less you know, the more you think you know everything. Knowledge is humbling. Ignorance is arrogant." -- Richard Feynman

I've learned a lot in my 47 years on this earth. And I've learned enough to know I still have a lot to learn.

One of my daily affirmations goes like this: I give myself permission not to know everything. My most authentic self is confident in who I am, what I know, and what I don't know.

I have to remind myself often of how much I don't know. And I have to give myself permission to be okay with not knowing what I don't know.

I've been teaching workout classes for a few months now. We use a lot of kettlebells and there are a lot of steps in learning how to use the kettlebells properly. It's challenging to teach a newcomer how to use their hips and glutes and legs to raise the kettlebells instead of relying on their arms.

I was trying to explain to a new member how to properly do a one-arm snatch. A long-time member chimed in with some helpful tips of her own. And these tips ended up being way more helpful than the tips I was trying to give.

The younger me might have felt inadequate and emasculated. I was the instructor, but one of the students was explaining things more effectively than me. But the current me gives permission to myself not to know everything, or to have a monopoly on the best way to explain things.

I was grateful for the detailed explanation from someone who's been doing these workouts way longer than me. The newcomer got some confidence in the moves, and I got some new ideas on how to explain things to future newcomers.

It's okay not to know everything. Nobody expects that from us (at least, no reasonable person expects that from us). It's not okay to pretend to know everything. Most people can see right through the B.S. And worse, someone can end up getting hurt.

Make it a great day!

Coach Chris