what i learnt this week :: WEEK 24

#WhatILearntThisWeek

I think we are ALL guilty of this one. I know I am.

We are all so busy and have so many things vying for our attention that conversation is often sacrificed in the name of efficiency. So often when someone comes to tell us a story, the latest news or a fascinating fact they’ve just discovered, we shoot them down with ‘I know’.

I worked with a girl once who did this ALL THE TIME. It really drove me nuts. It wouldn’t matter what I said… it could have made something up and she would swat me down with an ‘I know’.

I really started to notice this a lot in others and in the last few weeks I’ve found that I do it myself. So what are you really saying when you dismiss someone with an ‘I know’? Surely you don’t know EVERYTHING. No one can. Often it’s used before a sentence is even completed. You’re saying, “shut up”, “I don’t care about what you have to say” or maybe “What makes you think you know more than I do”.

We often think we know enough about a topic. You may know the headlines but do you really know everything? No, you don’t. You could learn something new, get some insight into philosophy or gain an understanding of something you’ve never allowed yourself to consider before. So try to open your mind, close your mouth and listen… you never know what you might learn.