Knowledge Hoarding: The New Procrastination by Nicole Woodcox M.S.W

When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.  African Proverb

How much education do you really need to do your job well? Do you believe it is more important to either receive knowledge or apply knowledge? Is knowledge truly powerful?  These are some of the questions that ran through my mind as I contemplated purchasing yet another course that promised to make me a 6-7 figure super awesome business maven and read yet another book on living my best life.  I have 3 degrees and more certificates than I can count, but I question whether my life actually correlates with all that knowledge I have received. Then it hit me. I am a knowledge hoarder!

In this article, a knowledge hoarder is defined as someone who is on a perpetual treadmill of collecting information before taking significant action to utilize the collected information. 

I am a collector of knowledge but share and apply only a very small portion of it. If I am truly honest I only apply the part of my knowledge that tends to allow me to stay in my comfort zone. For example, I understand the basics of marketing very well and know that I need to be consistent with whatever strategy I use.  But I still tend to say to myself, "Oh I don't want to be a pest to people". "If I just send out an email once a month or shoot out a few tweets here and there, they will still remember my business, because I am respecting their inbox and am so genuine." Everyone with any sort of business sense knows that is a strategy for failure, but somehow, I try to blame my failed marketing strategy on a lack of knowledge and seek out yet another course on marketing.

Once I was able, to be honest with myself and admitted that I am a knowledge hoarder, I had to face a hard truth. I was using my knowledge seeking as a tool to procrastinate on doing the necessary things that needed to be done in my business or life.  Then I had to face the harder truth that I had not done some of the necessary inner work prior to taking the leap into entrepreneurship.  The reality is that I have been procrastinating and hoarding knowledge because I do not truly feel worthy enough to request payment for my skill set or even just consistently sharing my knowledge.  I keep telling myself if I just get this certificate or that certificate I will finally have all that I need to really advertise my business and charge what I am worth.  Well, finally I am saying enough is enough!  No more hoarding! Now it’s all about applying what I already know.  The dress rehearsal is over. Will you join me?  

For the next six weeks, let's really stand in our power.  Use the hashtag #LovingMeFirst so we can interact with each other while on this journey.

Learn more about Nicole via her website at www.thrivingwithbaby.com and follow her on Twitter @thrivingwitbaby 

Comments

  1. That's me. Thank you so very much for confirming. I'm not sure of what I'm worth but I would like to find out and I've been a true believer that I could use more degrees and certificates, yet I'm just as sure that I'm ready to dive into my gift to give and change the world with my talent

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