If I was a betting man, I’d be willing to wager the house that you’ve heard of the curse of knowledge. But I’ve come to believe in the other side of the coin as well: the blessing of ignorance.
Have you ever been through a situation that should have turned out TERRIBLE looking back- but you somehow pushed through and came out stronger on the other side?
I’ll give you an example…
Building Beyond Strength Performance NOVA, LLC from a tiny start-up to where it is today was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done.
- I left a decent paying job with benefits
- I borrowed a lot of money
- I only had TWO members- yes two members- the day we opened the doors back in 2011
- I had no idea how to run a business
- I didn’t have a real well thought out plan for growth
But at the time I didn’t really see any of those things.
- I was living (okay, pursuing) my dream
- I was doing what I truly felt to be the right thing
- I saw so much opportunity on the horizon
- I had no Plan B, literally, I was getting the gym built or bust
Now, I can’t say that I loved every second of it.
In fact, looking back, I was CRAZY.
My amazingly supportive wife listened to me have more terrified breakdowns than I can recount.
I created a lot of additional debt.
There were times I thought we were going to lose it all!
But, from continually showing up (see last week’s post: Show Up), it all worked out.
Really well.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s still a work in progress, and I am sure it always will be, or we may as well shut the doors. But I have learned so much from the experiences building Beyond Strength Performance NOVA, LLC.
We have come so far.
The blessing of ignorance allowed me to do all of that.
Had I known it would be THAT hard
- The sleepless nights
- Being dead broke
- The fear of the unknown
- …
… I would have never started. The curse of knowledge wouldn’t allow me to.
But luckily there’s a blessing of knowledge as well.
I learned more than I could have ever imagined from my experiences!
If I had to do it all over again I could probably get out of the hole in 1/4 of the time- maybe never even go in the hole!
Because of my experiences, I can now help other people thinking about starting a business as well.
So how can you use all of this to your advantage?
Well, I’ve just shown you that no matter what angle you’re coming at a situation from- the curse of knowledge, the blessing of ignorance, or the blessing of knowledge- it’s all about perspective!
If you’re currently in a blessing of ignorance situation, great! Let’s use the excitement that comes along with that to our advantage. Wake up every day, hungry to get after it.
But let’s tap into someone with the blessing of knowledge, someone who’s done it before us.
[I really wish I had done just that a whole lot sooner than I did]
If you’re in a curse of knowledge situation, realize that there is no curse…
Even if you had the most negative experience, your experience can help others.
It’s about turning your “curse” into a blessing…
Help others, and there’s a good chance that all of those new experiences will further build your blessing of knowledge.
