One of the worse experiences you could have is to suddenly go blank when you are required to make a case of your knowledge before a gathering of people. Not having anything to say when you know you could actually have made a good impression of yourself makes you feel betrayed and abandoned by your brain and body.
A very characteristic way we socially connect as humans and acquire our sense of relevance and approval is the communication and negotiation of our knowledge with others. Ability to communicate your ideas, thoughts and feelings in clear terms invariably unlocks lots of opportunities for your personal growth and it enhances your social proof. Whether in your career or in your interpersonal relationship, you would have to talk your ideas to approval much as you would have to walk your talk to honour.
Studies have shown that most people acknowledge public speaking as their greatest source of fear. But contrary to general perception that fear of public speaking is directly impacted by the crowd or the spot-light effect, keen observation reveals that people’s fear of public speaking actually stem from a lack of mastery of their knowledge.
A general way to know you have yet to develop a mastery of your knowledge is that it often takes much time and effort for you to access your knowledge from your general frame of reference. Your cognitive skills’ activation is generally slow and mechanical, and you often reach clarity only in the afterthought or the aftermath of an event.
Why do people lack mastery of their Knowledge?
Still stuck in the mental
The mental plane is where we first connect with the world. Here, ideas are vague and abstract; they need proper context and experiences to meaningfully guide our lives. Hence, when you lack practical experience or you do not experience your knowledge in real life situations, you can rarely connect with and appreciate your knowledge.
Extensive Vs Intensive learning
Learning a bit about much or much about a bit? Extensive learning informs a scattered knowledge which may take time to retrieve whereas intensive learning informs concentrated knowledge and its logical association often makes it seamless to retrieve any part of it.
Generally, the speed at which we retrieve our information depends on how much of it is contained in our conscious mind. The conscious mind is where we learn new things and perform complex task. Unfortunately, the conscious mind only holds less than 10 percent of our collective knowledge.
As we learn new things, some information passes from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind to create allowance for new learning. A common way we consciously hold on to information is through repetition and intensive learning. Experts have suggested identifying the must know, the need to know and the nice to know in our fields to achieve the economy of efforts.
Low self-esteem
Lack of confidence and low self-esteem invariably impact how we communicate and demonstrate our knowledge in a social gathering. Usually, when we relate with other people, we tend to compare their personalities and strength against ours. This often impacts our communication and flow towards them. For example, if you assume someone is better exposed or more knowledgeable than you in a particular field, you may find yourself being reserved and acquiescent rather than confident and assured about your knowledge.
Not yet in the Pro zone
If you seldom tap into your strength or sphere of influence and challenge yourself to use your knowledge and skills as a leverage to create and attract wealth, you will rarely advance in the social lather or become an authority in your space.
Poor Command of Language.
What to do
- Go beyond the mental abstraction. Acquire as much practical experiences as possible to give your knowledge beauty and meaning
- Identify your niche and learn all there is to know in your field. Then learn about other significant areas to spur your social relevance. Develop your hard skills and then complement them with your soft skills.
- Be confident about your knowledge. But uphold modesty so that you do not become overconfident and vain.
- Commercialize your knowledge and as much as possible develop your personal and professional brand through recommendation from others.
