Ignorance is said to be bliss! It is blissful, not only because you are not aware of the negative things and aspects of life around you, but you are not even aware that you live unaware of this awareness. The ignorant life can be similar to that of a young child, care free and joyous.
However being ignorant not only reveals a lack of knowledge and experience, but comes with a terrible dark side to it. I came across studies that have been undertaken to try and understand ignorance and the consequences to being ignorant. I believe that the most damaging consequence to being ignorant is that as an individual, you are not even aware of the situation or aspect that you are lacking in.
In the studies undertaken, a large percentage of participants who thought they had performed well during testing, came out with poor results. These participants were not only ignorant to their abilities and knowledge, but they were ignorant to how their abilities stacked against their peers.
It has been quite a soul searching time for me since going through this research, searching within myself, the corners of my life where I may have felt or believed that I had it all together! The question is, did I really have it all together? Was I really as good at the skill or knowledgeable of the material as I thought I was. How did my performance and knowledge truly stack up to my peers in the market place?
Am I just ignorant to the skills and performance of my peers around me, and in doing that ,do I then value the input and expertise of my peers? If I am ignorant to my poor performances, but consider myself to exceptional, is the ignorance of my inabilities creating growing problems in my professional life, where I do not ask for and accept assistance from a colleague more experienced, with better performances in a particular area of my job? I may think out of ignorance that I am more knowledgeable or able to perform the skills required!
In a time of our world where testing is so frowned upon, I have to say that I value testing. It is so important to me to receive honest and unbiased feedback on my actual knowledge and understanding of a subject, person or situation. Without the testing and truthful results, how can I ever improve or do a better job?
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