A lot of people dismiss good information and advice by saying, “I already know that.” But do they really KNOW it?
The difference between knowing something and KNOWING it is the difference between having an intellectual understanding and making it part of your being so that you actually do it.
You may understand that something is important or necessary but, for whatever reason, not take the action required to put your knowledge to work.
For example, I recently wrote that, “I know that I should have scalability built into everything I do. Do I always do it as well as I could? Uh, not necessarily. I know it but I don’t KNOW it.” It is one of the areas where I need to improve in order to grow my business, and I am taking action to make that happen.
The next time you hear yourself saying, “Yeah, I know that,” ask if you really KNOW it. How are you using the knowledge you claim to have? And what action will you take to make that knowledge work for you?
Well we are all guilty of the I know it syndrome. Especially as business consultants, we come across a whole lot of stuff, read a whole bunch of new ways to do things and new technologies on helping businesses grow. But do we know them? or just know about them is the bottom line.
So I do a whole lot of listening these days and a whole lot more of research into a topic before claiming to know something about something!