Socrates ones famously said, and it took me almost 30 years to realize what he might mean.
For the first three decades of my life, I thought that I was the smartest person in the world and that people simply didn’t understand me.
I wouldn’t trust anyone who I didn’t consider as an authority and there weren’t many people who I admired in that manner; if you weren’t Hemingway you didn’t have any authority as far as I was concerned.
It was easy for me to get into that trap; I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries and reading biographies of famous thinkers when I realized that I have at least one thing in common with them.
I’ve sort of felt like Van Gogh but unlike Van Gogh, except I knew nothing and did exactly that.
Instead, I had numerous arguments with people whose opinion was different than mine. I had an opinion about everything and I thought that I knew everything about anything and whoever was thinking differently, simply wasn’t right.
I was a pain in the ass; a troll.
Then, my perception suddenly switched. Even today, I don’t know why, when and how but I simply realized that I’m not as smart as I thought I was.
Now, I’m eager to listen to more experienced and wiser people while only two years ago I would consider almost everybody as a layman.
So, if you think that you might be the smartest person in the world, think twice. Maybe there are people who have different perspectives and whom you should at least consider listening to.
You might learn a thing or two.