The Fatalness of "I Don't Know"

I've come to really hate it when people say, "I don't' know."  That's because I subscribe to the theory that if you say, "I don't know," you will never know.

You see, your brain works by doing what you command it.  So if you say, "I don't know," your brain takes that as a command that you don't know, and it never thinks about it, never tries to solve your problem.  So in a day, week, month, year, or decade when you again ask your brain the same question, your brain will say, "I don't know."  That's what you told it, and that's what it will give you.

That's why whenever my friends say, "I don't know," when I ask them what their goals are, I admonish them and tell them to replace it with, "I know," or "I'll figure it out."  But it's so ingrained in them, this fallback, "I don't know" that no matter how many times I've told them, they still revert back to that three-word-phrase that accomplishes nothing. 

It's human nature, I suppose, to look into your head, see a blank, and respond, "I don't know."  Heck, I used to do it.  That was until I learned that when you do that, you'll never get the answer you seek, because your brain won't know you're seeking it.  It'll think you quit on it, and so it'll quit on you.  The brain is like a muscle.  You have to work on it, practice it, and use it and it'll perform miracles.  Seriously, miracles.  It's amazing what it can do if you keep asking more of it.  But if you just let it slide and go to mush watching TV or whatever because it's not fun to think too hard about anything, you'll find that one day, your brain won't be there for you - because you were never there for it. 

I had a great example while discussing this topic with my friend.  I come up with some great ideas talking to my friends.  They say, the feeling you get when you discuss things with friends is almost akin to the feeling you get with meditation.  You're relaxed and ideas come to you easier. 

In any case, I had asked my friend what she wanted to do with her life.  And again, she had answered with the ever-dreaded, "I don't know."  And I told her, "Don't say, 'I don't know,' say, 'I'll figure it out."  To which she repeated, "I'll figure it out."  And then a second later, "But I really don't know."  And for some reason then, I launched into a tirade about Albert Einstein.  Albert Einstein and his Theory of Relativity.  And I said the reason that Einstein discovered the Theory of Relativity was because he kept thinking and thinking and thinking about it.  He kept working on the possibilities of what it could be and thinking about it.  And finally because of all his hard work and thinking, he figured it out.  Einstein was a genius, of course, but things still didn't come to him just like that.  He didn't say, "I don't know.  I don't know what the Theory of Relativity is."
And then it just came to him out of the blue without him trying.  Things like that don't come to you unless you make them, unless you think about it, and seek out the truth.  They don't come to you if you're lazy.  If you're lazy, you don't get it and you don't deserve to get it.  You don't deserve that little miracle of inspiration that is the greatest high you'll ever feel.  Those who work at it, they're the ones who get and who deserve to get it. 

By saying, "I don't know," you kill the thought right there.  It never has the chance to seed, to root, and grow inside you.  You already killed it.  There's no sunlight, no water.  It's dead.  The only way to bring it back again is to say, "I'll figure it out," and create that seed, and water it, and give it sunshine.  Then and only then will it be able to grow until it becomes something like a beautiful blossom, a miracle that blesses you with amazing insight.