I Don't Know

Be comfortable with saying, "I don't know."

We can never know everything. It's impossible. With every new thing we discover and learn about, we realize that there's so much we don't know. It's a beautiful irony: the more we know, the more we don't know.

So, accept that. It's the only sustainable approach.

Some people mask it. They try to sound smart, even when they don't know what they're talking about. They're afraid to look dumb. But it's easy to spot BS. It's easy to spot posturing. And when that happens, not only will they look dumb, they'll also look arrogant, pretentious, and egotistic.

It's so much easier to say, "I don't know." To say, "I don't know enough about this topic to have an opinion." To say, "That's not my area of expertise, so I'm not confident about advising you. Let's ask someone else."

That's honesty and humility. And that's admirable. It will earn the respect of others, more than pretension will.