“I don’t know…”

And yet – why can so many of us not say it?
Perhaps fearing someone will think less of you, if you donโ€™t know.
For many, not knowing something can seem like a personal failure.
Worse still, pretending to know something you donโ€™t, can put a lot of pressure on you.
We simply cannot know everything, and we shouldnโ€™t pretend to.
The truth is nobody has all the answers.
Many years ago, early in my sales career, I was frequently asked questions about products, costs, how things worked etc, and Iโ€™d respond with; “๐‘ฐ ๐’…๐’๐’’๐’• ๐’Œ๐’๐’๐’˜!”
Iโ€™d learned to use the words some years earlier as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an 18-year-old in London, where Iโ€™d constantly be asked questions that I simply didnโ€™t know the answer to.
It didnโ€™t signal the end of my faith, but the very beginningโ€ฆ as quickly Iโ€™d say; โ€œIโ€™m happy to find outโ€ฆโ€
And off Iโ€™d go in personal study to find the answer to the question at hand.

With life…

So it is throughout my life…
I have found “๐‘ฐ ๐’…๐’๐’’๐’• ๐’Œ๐’๐’๐’˜” to be a powerful and helpful phrase for many reasons:
– Admitting you donโ€™t know something shows honesty and humility, which fosters trust.
– By acknowledging that you don’t know something, it can open a door for learning by creating space for curiosity, growth, study and learning from others.
– Saying “I don’t know” relieves pressure, gives you time to think and allows you to be more open-minded.
– In group settings it can encourage collaboration as others are more open to share their knowledge and experiences.
– It stops you from making assumptions or giving misleading information.

With Faith…

When it comes to matters of faith and life, I learned many important lessons as a young missionary.
I didnโ€™t ever understand everything, I didnโ€™t pretend to and still don’t!
Yet, when it came to those frequent moments of truth, I focused on the things I did know, rather than what I didnโ€™t know.
In the Book of Mormon, Nephi said, โ€œI know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all thingsโ€ – 1 Nephi 11:17
When we admit to not knowing something, it allows us to move forward in a much humbler way.
It fills our hearts and minds with a greater faith in God, through hope and prayer, that He will make up the difference.
He always does.
Perhaps itโ€™s time we all need to start using “๐ˆ ๐๐จ๐ง’๐ญ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ” more often.