Welcome to Conscious Curiosity: "zoom out" edition - a monthly email that helps us think about how we think with quick insights from experts & thought leaders. Basically cliff notes for grown-ups!
Mental fitness: the power of knowing what you don't know
Conscious Curiosity: Edition No. 2
Think Again by Adam Grant
{excerpt}: "It starts with intellectual humility - knowing what we don't know. We should all be able to make a long list of areas where we're ignorant. Mine include art, financial markets, fashion, chemistry, food, why British accents turn American in songs, and why it's impossible to tickle yourself.​
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Recognizing our shortcomings opens the door to doubt. As we question our current understanding, we become curious about what information we're missing. That search leads us to new discoveries, which in turn maintain our humility by reinforcing how much we still have to learn.
If knowledge is power, knowing what we don't know is wisdom."
***Note from Ansley:***
when I was growing up - especially when I was in high school & college - and I was frustrated about a friendship, or how long the interview process was taking for a job, or just anything where I couldn't control what was happening on the other side of the equation, my dad would hear me out & then simply respond: "you don't know what you don't know." He was (and is) so right.
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There are endless ways to apply this wisdom, but the one that might be the most beneficial in this particularly polarized time is in the area of how we view other people, especially those who believe (or vote) differently than we do. Or those people who just rub us the wrong way, or people we feel like maybe even don't like us for whatever reason! The truth is, we don't know what we don't know - about their life stories, about what trials or hardships they are currently facing, or what's behind the curtain that makes their behavior feel perfectly valid to them. If we can have the humility to recognize that we don't know what we don't know, it makes it a lot easier to extend grace & maybe even compassion.
And we could all use a little more grace & compassion in our world right now, couldn't we?
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Curious to learn more? Recommended resources below:
WHO IS ADAM GRANT?
Adam Grant has been recognized as Wharton’s top-rated professor for seven straight years. As an organizational psychologist, he is a leading expert on how we can find motivation and meaning, and live more generous and creative lives. He has been recognized as one of the world’s 10 most influential management thinkers and Fortune’s 40 under 40.
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​Adam is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 5 books that have sold millions of copies and been translated into 35 languages: Think Again, Give and Take, Originals, Option B, and Power Moves. His books have been named among the year’s best by Amazon, Apple, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal.
That’s all for the second edition of Conscious Curiosity!
Hope you found it helpful. Forward to a friend you think might enjoy it!
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Stay tuned for the next edition dropping May 1st!
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What to expect from Conscious Curiosity emails:
- on the 1st of each month: "zoom in" editions with useful tidbits from the experts on relationships, faith & psychology.
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- on the 15th of each month: "zoom out" editions with quick insights from experts & thought leaders to help us think about how we think.
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