Two Watches

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To this day, I don’t recall exactly what happened, but I do remember how her words made me feel.
 
Belittled.
 
After making a mistake, I apologized saying, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was supposed to be done another way.”
 
“If you didn’t know, why didn’t you ask?!” she snapped.
 
“That’s just it,” I replied, “I didn’t know there was anything to ask.”
 
“But if you didn’t know, why didn’t you ask?!” she snapped again. She was caught in a frustration loop and couldn’t see the logic of what I was trying to communicate.
 
Sometimes, there are things you don’t know you don’t know.
 
•••
 
Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties[1] because it comes from a conflict of ideas,[2] and it is precisely for this reason that I enrolled in graduate school in 2019.
 
It’s said that a watch will make you certain of the time; but with two, you will never be quite sure.[3] On the one hand, a single source of information offers a sense of certainty—though a false sense. And on the other, multiple sources can provide multiple perspectives—but with a woeful lack of certainty.
 
I had just purchased the rights to Hashtag Positivity and made the bold decision to rebrand it from an apparel company to an education company. Rather than merely wearing positivity, I was interested in the how of positivity (the necessary mindset, knowledge, and skills) and how best to communicate it to others. After all, mere knowledge is not enough for this mission without also being able to share that knowledge in a way that promotes comprehension and application.
 
There were things I didn’t know I didn’t know, but if I had learned anything, I knew there were questions that were not even on my radar yet. Embracing uncertainty by studying learning systems design provided a foundation of knowledge and skills to move one step closer toward achieving the aim of spreading positivity with the community at large.
 
•••
 
Anything worthwhile will by definition take a while, and this calls for the courage to let go of certainties and embrace doubt with conflicting ideas. As Francis Bacon reminds us: “If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end with doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.”[4]

Reflection
How certain are you? Have you left any room for doubt?
 
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Notes & References
[1] Erich Fromm (1900-1980) | Social Psychologist

[2] Donatella Versace (1955-    ) | Fashion Designer

[3] (1930, September 30). “Retail jewelers assert that every man should carry two watches. But a man with one watch knows what time it is, and a man with two watches could never be sure.” San Diego Union.

[4] Bacon, S. (1605). The advancement of learning. P. F. Collier.