A Philosophy to Live By: ‘I am a Student of Life, For Life’
There’s an image of earth taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft on February 14, 1990, from a distance of more than 6 billion kilometers. In it, you see Earth as nothing more than a mere point of light—a dot—a crescent only 0.12 pixel in size.
It is this incredible image that inspired Carl Sagan to write a book and name it The Pale Blue Dot.
That Pale Blue Dot is Earth. Source.
An image can have multiple interpretations. While Carl Sagan looked at it through an astronomer’s lens, I see it through that of a philosopher’s.
To me, The Pale Blue Dot represents the circle of what I know, and the void around it represents all that I don’t. And it is this newly-adopted perspective that keeps me grounded and hungry for more.
So, let me tell you why this matters to you.
A little over a year and a half ago, I dove headfirst into the realm of entrepreneurship. And I approached that new chapter of my life with such foolish overconfidence. I thought I knew it all. And I believed I was going to crush it. I really did.
Fast forward a year later, and reflecting on the initial decisions I had made, I realized why I was so delusional: My overconfidence, poor self-awareness, and arrogance blinded me to my own ignorance. Or, in other words, I was blinded by my own foolishness.
In psychology, this is referred to as the Dunning-Kruger Effect: A type of cognitive bias whereby people who are incompetent at something are unable to recognize their own incompetence. This is why a person, despite his lack of knowledge or experience in a specific domain, can still think he’s amazing at it.
As explained below, it’s a bias that occurs when a person does not possess the skills (a combination of high self-awareness and cognitive ability) needed to recognize their own incompetence and accurately assess their own capabilities.
“The scope of people's ignorance is often invisible to them. This meta-ignorance (or ignorance of ignorance) arises because lack of expertise and knowledge often hides in the realm of the “unknown unknowns” or is disguised by erroneous beliefs and background knowledge that only appear to be sufficient to conclude a right answer.” — David Dunning
In essence, the Dunning-Kruger Effect means that:
We frequently overestimate our own abilities.
We’re not good at evaluating ourselves accurately.
This is the phenomenon I experienced in my entrepreneurial journey. I made bold decisions and shunned everyone else’s advice—foolishly labeling it as wrong—until I raised my awareness and recognized that, among other things, and contrary to what I had initially believed: I’m actually not good at managing money, I’m not sure how to create demand for a product, and I don’t know how to manage my emotions or build good habits.
I finally opened the blinds and accepted the truth: There is so much that I don’t know and so much to learn.
(Which is the reason I got so invested in self-development and personal growth and launched the Be, Think, Do Better newsletter).
The “I am a student of life, for life” Philosophy, inspired by the Pale Blue Dot.
So how does all this relate to you?
Realize this and everything will change:
You are a student of life, for life.
Live by this philosophy.
It reminds you that you have so much more to learn. It reminds you that the more you learn, the more you will become aware of how much more there is for you to learn. It reminds you that if you let your arrogance creep in, it will rob you from the humbleness of apprenticeship.
Confucius, the ancient Chinese philosopher, once wrote these words:
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.”
Doesn’t that line explain the cognitive bias of the Dunning-Kruger Effect?
Know the extent of your own ignorance.
Make your own ignorance aware to you.
Accept that you are a student of life, for life.
And realize this:
You are the pale blue dot.
And there is a universe of knowledge around you waiting to be explored.
How to Embrace The ‘I am a Student of Life, For Life’ Philosophy
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”— Socrates
So how do we embrace this philosophy? Here are five habits to practice that will help you do so while also naturally taming the Dunning-Kruger Effect:
Raise your awareness. Self-awareness is recognizing that your objective isn’t to steer the river, your objective is to learn how to operate the ship so that it doesn’t crash. It’s the most important quality there is, the ability to step out of your mind and look at yourself—your behaviors and abilities—objectively. Here are 5 key habits for higher self-awareness.
Stay humble. You don’t know it all, and frankly, you never will. Accept it. Embrace it. Be open to knowledge and experience. Being humble isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a light of strength. In a sea of beings that pretend to know it all, you step out of the crowd and proudly say: “I don’t know, but I’m willing to learn.”
Always be learning. Be humble and stop assuming that you know all there is to know about a subject. Keep digging. Keep reading. Keep researching. Keep experimenting. There’s a universe of knowledge that has been accumulated over centuries. And then there’s another waiting to be written. As you gain greater knowledge of a topic, you are likely to recognize how much there is still to learn.
Ask for feedback. This is a habit for higher self-awareness. We usually evaluate ourselves from a limited and subjective standpoint. This unrealistic view of our own abilities feeds the Dunning-Kruger Effect. So ask for feedback. Combine this with your own self-awareness and you’ll discover greater insights into your abilities.
Question Everything. Seriously. Always dig deeper. Why is it this way? How could it be better? Who can I ask for feedback on this? Why am I feeling the way I am? What more can I learn about this topic? Question everything—this habit can change your life.
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
In his 2005 Stanford commencement address, Steve Jobs closed his speech with these final four words:
“Stay hungry, stay foolish.”
Simple words, with profound meaning.
And in the year 1599, in As You Like It, Shakespeare wrote these words:
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
Two incredible thinkers, centuries apart, sending us the same message.
A wise person is aware of his own ignorance.
So stay hungry for the quest of knowledge. Stay foolish in your belief that you have so much more to learn. Because you, like me, are a student of life, for life.
You are the pale blue dot.