When was the last time you said I don’t know?

Perhaps you said just then when you answered that question.

But I don’t think we say it enough. There is something unsettling about that phrase – it creates uncertainty and ambiguity. Often that is the opposite of what we are looking for. We thrive where there is certainty in what we do and specific actionable items. This is helpful for us but can be dangerous when we are faced with a question we don’t know the answer to, or a new situation that has unknown outcomes.

If we approach these questions and situations with a need for absolute certainty in that moment we may not only be making an error in what we say and do, but we are missing out on the possibility that we may learn something we never dreamed of.

As people, we do not have all the answers and if we pretend that we do then we are lying to ourselves and to others. We will never reach a time when we finish learning and the irony is, I have discovered the more that I learn, it highlights the amount that I don’t know.

Saying I don’t know, rather than a sign of weakness and failure, actually comes from a place of strength and humility.