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Ignorance Is Dangerous

Ignorance Is Dangerous

In today’s information age we can run into a number of problems.

The first is a lack of information.

While on the surface this seems hard to imagine, especially in a world of 24/7 news, social media, and smartphone internet access, a lack of information can still exist, and it normally appears in the form of…

A lack of accurate information, (or an abundance of misinformation).

There are entire industries that thrive on displaying the misinformation of the day or conveniently distorting the truth in order to create controversy to promote their own agendas. (It sounds a bit like a conspiracy theory, but the truth is bad news sells).

The next problem is a lack of actionable information.

This can often have more to do with the person than the information, but it’s still an information problem.

A lack of actionable information occurs when you’re informed, but not enough… and enough is a subjective term.

The term “paralysis by analysis” fits well here, as does the hockey expression that eventually you have to “shoot the puck.”

There comes a point, and it’s often sooner than later, that you have to have faith in the information you have, and commit to making it work.

The last information problem is information overload, and the danger here is twofold.

First, information overload can cause stress, fear, and freezing; being absolutely frozen without a clue what to do next. With so much information it often seems difficult to know where to start.

The other problem with information overload is the “squirrel reaction”, where as soon as you think you’ve got enough good information to go on, something else pops up and you run to that, only to repeat ad infinitum.

The truth is there will ALWAYS be something new and shiny to run to, eventually you need to pick a path, and pursue it long enough to test if it works.

With all of these information problems it can seem easier to throw up your hands in despair and simply give up. “Ignorance is bliss” so they say.

But ignorance isn’t bliss, ignorance is dangerous.

A lack of quality, actionable information creates a void that’s all too quickly filled with misinformation, and bad ideas.

There’s nothing more frightening than charging recklessly ahead with an untested, and misinformed idea. This is how you quickly, and thoroughly destroy a business.

So what’s the answer?

Well, as always, you need to begin with the end in mind. What are your goals, and what are you trying to accomplish.

From there you can set a baseline of required information and an accompanying timeline. Information is important, but so is action.

The final step is to commit to the “Information Action Pact”:

“Ignorance is never bliss, information is always important, and action is always required for success.”

 

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