Knowledge x Knowing = 10x
Today I love to get philosophical, even a bit spiritual. All with one thing in mind… to 10x your impact
When I established Success Drivers in 2014 the chances had been very low that the company would survive according to widely available KNOWLEDGE. 95% of startups fail. Even worse, startups that need to create demand, that need to educate the audience like us (instead of providing a service to an existing demand) have an even lower likelihood to succeed. I was doomed.
But I did not care. I KNEW, that I will succeed.
I did not care, even though I was holding a 9-month-old son in my arms and was not willing to take risks at his expense.
“Knowledge” is not “knowing”. It is actually the opposite.
“Knowledge” is not “knowing”. It is actually the opposite.
Knowledge is a NOUN and describes factual and scientific information about the PAST.
“Knowing” is a VERB and describes a state of your body, a feeling about the FUTURE.
Close your eyes now and think about you waking up tomorrow. Do you “know” you will wake up? How does it feel? Now think about having a great success tomorrow. Do you “know” it will happen or are you just “hoping” it? It’s a different feeling, right?
Some argue, knowing is a causal result of knowledge. But the opposite is true. “The more you know, the more you know how much you don’t know”. Knowledge is the fuel for doubt, not for “knowing”.
“Knowing” comes first.
“Knowing” comes first.
As a kid, I had very thick glasses on my nose. As such I considered myself being ugly. After I switched to contact lenses, it took me still some decades to “know” that I was actually good-looking. Only since I “know” I am realizing the looks of women around me.
When Penicillin, Teflon or Post-Its had been discovered there were researchers who KNEW that there must be a better solution out there. This knowing enabled them to see what others who only work with knowledge had been blind to see.
As Steve Jobs once put it: The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.
I would put it: Entrepreneurs are those who “know”.
“Knowing” shapes your perception. It determines the opportunities that you consider.
The compounded knowledge of past decades gives you enough reasons to disregard our promise at Success Drivers “exploring causalities from data” as total bullock. Our clients choose us because foremost through “knowing”.
Is now knowledge meaningless?
Of course not. It is pretty useful to make decisions and navigate through our world. But if you are not “knowing”, if being skeptical is your default mode, you will be like a paddler on a giant river trying to row upstream.
Good luck with that.
Knowledge and Knowing goes hand in hand. Knowing is your heart and Knowledge is your mind. Knowledge is intellect. Knowing is intelligence.
Knowledge without heart is dumb.
Knowledge without heart is dumb.
To create something you need to knowing in two areas
To know that the outcome will be possible
To know that you are able to create this outcome
While building knowledge is well understood, it is a miracle how “knowing” evolves.
Some say it is simple. If you make positive experiences (knowledge) you learn that you can do things and get confidence. Likewise, you can construct a future out of positive knowledge.
But think again.
As a young adult, when girls giggled I thought they laughed about me. It's not unlikely that they were actually interested in me.
It is not the experience, it is how we interpret the experience that creates our confidence. Was it me or was it luck? This way of interpreting the world is sometimes called “mindset”.
This mindset itself can be shaped by a decision. This requires “knowing” that it is possible.
It always starts with knowing.
So, how to create knowing?
Not sure. It’s a miracle. Sure, I am aware of some techniques that try to accomplish it. But I will not elaborate on them. It is not practical nor ethical to send employees to a meditation or hypnotherapy retreat instead of a machine learning course.
Instead: Work with people who already “know”. Find human beings who have a vision and along that build knowledge, not the other way around.
Work with people who “know”.
Once you have people around you – employees and customers – “who know”,
“10x” happening sooner than you think.
They will figure out a way because they know.
Know that 10x exists and know that you can do it.
THIS… is how you 10x your impact.
Frank
p.s. Why are you still subscribed to this blog? I guess there is a spark of knowing in you. Because of that, I feel blessed and thankful that you joined me by reading this.
