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Tags: ignorance
Practice saying “I don’t know”
The majority of arguments are spouting off of things we’ve heard from other people. Battling between people who aren’t experts or haven’t thought it through on their own—people who’ve just seen an article or a post.
It takes a lot to build up having an opinion worth anything on a topic, to have skin in the game, personal experience, or proper rigor in the exploration of it, lazy research is done on impulse.
This said, I’m trying more to Do your own thinking. Instead of rattling off things I’ve heard elsewhere I can ask myself Why do you believe what you believe? You can engage and state your opinion appropriately when you have done the work to be sure you own it.
To state an opinion when you have not done this work is inappropriate, it is not your opinion or knowledge.
Practice saying “I don’t know” for these bits of conversation. You can follow with a hypothesis and evidence you have seen to point you in a particular direction. Be the example and do not fake confidence only to lead yourself and others off of a cliff.
Admitting the gaps in our knowledge facilitates much more authentic discussion and interaction with others. It is a mark of pride, of someone with Esteem built upon “being right”