by Leo Babauta

We are held back from creating the life we want, from our highest purpose, from our greatest growth and learning … by what we know.

Destroy what you know.

Once we feel like we’re a little good at something, we cling to that. We cling to wanting others to think we know things and are good at things. We cling to the feeling of knowing what we’re doing.

This clinging gives us the gift of fear of changing the status quo, because that comes with the possibility of failure. The gift of wanting to look like we know something, of wanting to feel certainty. Of waiting until we feel we’re ready — which we never will.

If we want to take our learning and our lives to the next level, we have to let go of that clinging to what we know.

Let yourself dive into the fear of change. Be willing to change everything. Be willing to embrace not knowing, a new view, being a beginner.

Be willing to embrace failure as a part of the process of learning and growing. Redefine failure, not knowing, so that you can’t wait to step into the unknown.

Seek out exposure to uncertainty. Seek to do things where you don’t know what you’re doing. Be open and public about your messiness, your commitments and your failures.

Obliterate what you know, to make room for what you might learn.