The Power Of “I don’t know“
Daniel Kahneman spent more than 60 years studying and researching human behaviour. One of his recurring findings was that people are always more confident in what we think we know than what we know. He writes that we have an “unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.”
The illusion that we know a lot, and we are in control of every aspect of our life can be dangerous from two key elements.
After years spent learning facts and methods, we start working, and we feel like we grow a lot continuously while everything is new. However, after a couple of years doing the same job, we start feeling confident that we master our filed. We might, but the belief that we know enough limits our potential to learn more. We hit a plateau and stay there for a long time. Most people feel it when they change their job or get a promotion to a new role. We then start feeling the uncertainty, and then the impostor syndrome can hit us hard.
Programming is a brilliant example of the phenomenon. Juniors learn quickly, and then they become better and better in a particular language, for example. However, after a while, they start realising that programming is not about the syntax of any languages, but about a lot of principles and patterns and they suddenly feel lost. They were confident that they are senior software engineers with much experience, and then it turns out that most of the field is still unknown to them.
When we stuck in our comfort zone, we are executing what we already know. Repeating is not learning or progressing. Doing the same job and building only from the knowledge we already have is the real plateau remains hidden from us.
We need to create space for learning – for deliberate practice. We need to move out of the comfort zone to acquire new skills or polish the existing ones.
There are different ways we can do that, and one key factor is essential in it. We must learn in a zone where mistakes are welcome and desired, and failure is a way of learning and not shame. Google calls it psychological safety that is one of the most underrated attributes of a good team.
We need the safety net - a mentor who can give us feedback and guide us. Or a colleague we can trust. Open, vulnerable discussions and feedback that helps us improve. There must be no issues with telling others our observations to enhance the work together or to help them develop themselves.
In the world of constant stress and where there is no room for mistakes (failure is not an option, they say), it is hard to find ways of learning and to make real mistakes so that you can use other techniques.
Every day, when you get back home, you can spend time to reflect on your day. Honestly and thoroughly replay all the significant decisions and actions you did and examine where you feel that you improved and where you could make more adjustments. Don’t let negative self-talk take over the process; stay objective as much as you can. The best is to do this exercise as if you would analyse another person’s actions.
The best is to take notes and, in the end, set action points that you can do to improve next time.
Connecting to the action points, do another short exercise and revisit your action points and plan how and when you will experiment with the adjustments. Strike off those you believe you already implemented and highlight those that can get you the most significant growth and deliberately practice these and seek for opportunities to practise them.
When you are in the “high stakes” mode and under the stress of not making a mistake, do what you already practised and good at. Practise and analyse when you are in learning mode and execute when you are in the performance mode.
