THE ULTIMATE HACK?
I vividly remember when I was 10 years old. The US Bicentennial was in full swing, and quite literally everything was red white and blue. Our family car was a gleaming special-edition “Spirit of America” Chevy Impala with delicate red and blue pin stripes. In honor of the Bicentennial, it was 200 feet long.
But what really marked 1976 for me wasn’t the celebrations or even that land yacht. It was the year I discovered something far more enduring - wisdom.
I likely first learned about King Solomon in Sunday school, hearing how his limitless wisdom was legendary across the entire known world. And his legacy? How about thousands of years later people still quote his proverbs. The idea of possessing such insight fascinated me. While my friends were inspired by fame, riches, space exploration, rad BMX stunts, this nerdy 10 year old was inspired by wisdom. It’s what I wanted.
THE ULTIMATE HACK
The way I saw it, wisdom would be the most powerful asset. With infinite insight into everything, there would be no limits. It would be the ultimate hack for personal development, relationships, career, and more. Possessing wisdom would be like finding a genie in a lamp - and your first wish is a million more wishes.
I’m not going to claim that my desire for wisdom was so I could make the world a better place. It was likely out of a desire to make my own place in the world, better. What I didn’t realize at the time is that wisdom doesn’t work like that.
A FOOL IS IN LOVE WITH HIS OWN OPINION
Those who’ve known me over the years might not think to use the word “wise” to describe me. “Foolish” might first pop into their head. I’m not disagreeing with that notion, and to be absolutely clear, I do not feel that I’ve been granted my desired allotment of the stuff. “A fool is in love with his own opinion…” That about sums me up. However, it does go on to say “…but the wise listen to advice”. It took me a long, long time, but I eventually began to lean into that second half. So this wisdom thing turned out to be more of a life-long journey. Of course it did.
WISDOM-COLORED GLASSES
As I think about wisdom and all those ancient proverbs, one surprising example comes to mind where I leverage wisdom to my benefit - not for any wisdom that I myself might hold, but the measure of it with whom I am interacting. As a result of my long pursuit, those proverbs echo in my mind during every negotiation, interview, and conflict. I filter the words I hear through them. It’s remarkably easy to spot honesty, integrity, duplicity, or insincerity through that filter. I’ve interacted with some incredibly wise people, and I’ve come across some who are, well, other-wise. Maybe I’ve hacked this thing after all. Perhaps that’s why Solomon wrote all that stuff down for me.
Does this story have any value? This little story of a nerdy 10 year-old’s pursuit of wisdom. Honestly I’m not sure if it’s a source of pride or embarrassment. But what I do know is that I’ve been pursuing wisdom for the last 47 years and there are sure a lot of worse pursuits.
Cheers
Paul
