Knowledge is Power

How confident are you? Fairly? Eek…me confident…eh not at at all? Maybe you are confident in your personal life but at work you dread making any decision as you just don’t know if it the right thing to do.

Confidence is a tricky thing, It can take years to build or if you have it, you can lose it quickly if something goes wrong. Are you someone who sits and listens to conversations rather than join in as you lack the confidence? You never voice your opinion or what you know on the subject as you don’t want to be wrong and as you aren’t sure of the facts you don’t want to be laughed at or disregarded.

Perhaps in work, you trained hard to get where you are, but you haven’t brushed up on your knowledge or skills since. You keep doing what you do with the skills or knowledge gained whilst training but it’s only a matter of time before someone challenges you as to the new theory or ideas that are circulating.

Theories can become outdated, technology of course changes so quickly. If we don’t keep up, we get left behind. The key is to keep reading, keep researching, watch videos, listen to podcasts, join webinars, groups, talk to people. Do you have a deep or shallow understanding of the subject? Perhaps the subject is so broad you don’t know where to begin. Pick the subject that is relevant to you most at this moment.

Learning is continual, the more you know, the more confident you can become in your discussions or your ideas or in your role. You don’t need to know everything in order to hold a conversation or to be the best in your field, however having a learning mind set can help to give you the confidence to do so.

If you don’t know where to begin to keep your knowledge up to date think about what you do when you don’t know something or where to find somewhere. So often now, when we don’t have the answer to a work or a personal issue, the first thing we do is Google it. It can be that simple. I’ve interviewed a number of people and I always ask them ‘What do you do when you don’t have the answer’? They all say Google it, followed by talking to their manager or colleague who perhaps knows more. There is no shame in it, everyone does it.

I think Googling has become the answer to everything. Google will know what we wish too. In the time before Google (I mean, who can even remember such times) We would have to ask people or go to the library, read books, research, go on a course. We would spend time finding out, looking at a subject and try to understand it. Once we had the answer, we could let someone know, or complete an assignment or task or keep it in the back of our mind should we need it at some point.

Confidence is a funny thing, we look at people and wish we could be as confident as them. But you can be, the trick is to keep learning, keep your knowledge up to date, understand what is important for you to know and what else you could benefit from knowing.

We don’t have all the answers, it will never be possible to know everything. But knowledge is power. The more we know about a subject, the more confident we are. When we have the confidence, we can hold our own in a conversation or understand our work more, put theories to the test and find new ways of working.

As you begin a new week of work, are there any areas you feel you need to brush up on? Something you haven’t looked up on Google in a while? Perhaps you are part of a professional body and they regularly send you emails which you usually ignore, why not take a look through, they may hold events or webinars which could prove useful to you. Take 10-15 minutes in your lunch hour and brush up on your knowledge. Instead of scrolling through social media why not see if you can find the latest news on your chosen work area.

A little bit of knowledge each day can help you to build confidence in your job.

Have a great week, take care and look after you.

Love Emma xx