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Communication exercise:

Knowledge is power! / “Yes, I know!”

Most crises are followed by a bunch of people proclaiming that they didn’t know about it. Of course they would have saved the situation if they just had known. Well, in some cases this might be true. In some it might not.

So here is a new exercise for you which will protect you from this:

Spend a week without saying or thinking “I don’t know!”

  • “What do you want to eat today?”
    “Let me think about it – maybe I’d like a chocolate cake…”
  • “When did you hug your wife today?”
    “I could do it right now – then I know the answer!”
  • “What hobbies do your kid’s best friends have?”
    “I am going to ask as soon as I see them.”
  • “How many people died in war zones today?”
    “I have to read about that – and ask some politicians who should know it.”

Get the information you didn’t know - instead of simulating knowledge.

Ask someone, read, think - just find out how you can get the answer easily. Delete the phrase “I don’t know” from your brain and replace it by inquisitiveness.
And as a nice side effect you will win the next quiz show...!

 

Oh, yes, and here are some international Proverbs on this topic:

  • Ignorance is no excuse! (international)
  • Ignorance is the death of the living. (Arabic)
  • Stupidity is the lover of ignorance. (Nigerian)
  • Keep learning because knowledge is the key to power. (Polish)
  • Ignorance is a voluntary misfortune. (Italian)
  • Ignorance doesn't kill you, but it does make you sweat a lot. (Haitian)
  • Where conceit and ignorance sit, grass will not grow again. (Turkish)
  • He who admits to his ignorance shows it once only; he who tries to hide it shows it frequently. (Japanese)
  • Art has no enemy but ignorance. (Romanian)
  • Ignorance is the mother of superstition. (English
  • Changing one's mind is more often a sign of prudence than of ignorance. (Spanish)
  • There is only one good - knowledge; there is only one evil - ignorance. (Russian)
  • Ignorance is the worst acquaintance. (Arabic)
  • Those who die through ignorance are many; those who die because they are intelligent are few. (Yoruba, African)
  • If you think education is expensive try ignorance. (African)
  • It's out of ignorance that a goat will attend a leopard's party. (African)
  • Ignorance is blindness. (Somali)
  • There is no blindness like ignorance. (British)
  • Your ignorance is your worst enemy. (American)
  • Action is the proper fruit of knowledge. (British)
  • Doubt is the key to knowledge. (Arab)
  • Knowledge is better than riches. (Cameroonian)
  • The strength of a nation is its knowledge. (Welch)
  • The best knowledge is to know yourself. (Welch)
  • Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement. (Spanish)
  • Knowledge is rooted in all things - the world is a library. (Native American)
  • The supreme treasure is knowledge, the middle treasure is children, and the lowest treasure is material wealth. (Mongolian)
  • If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come. (Native American)
  • To be without knowledge is to be without light. (Somali)
  • Knowledge is like the sun - it dispels the darkness. (Hebrew)
  • Who teaches another, acquires more knowledge. (Sicilian)
  • Knowledge is gained in many schools. (Hawaiian)
  • Lack of knowledge is darker than night. (African)

Read also in the “Yes, I do!” series:

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