Most of my Knowledge is not in my Head

Last night I sent a quick survey to my Monkeypod OG members asking a few questions. (What membership?)

One was: What do you want or expect from Monkeypod this year?

I woke up this morning to dozen or so responses, and they’ve continued to trickle in throughout the day. I just wrote an email replying to one member, Chris, about his submission. Chris said:

“I look to the Pod for advice and expertise. As I find myself in a certain niche I’ve found it’s easy to get pigeonholed into certain methods or tech. I know I can’t keep up with everything so that’s what I look to you and the rest of the group for. New Ideas. New Software. Explanations of confusing Infusionsoft idiosyncrasies, changes and updates.”

Simple, yet brilliant.

Knowledge Network

Chris is saying that he doesn’t have time to be an expert in everything, so he relies in the Monkeypod Grove to keep him abreast of what he needs to know for this really specific silo of information. Like a knowledge network.

In writing my reply, I had a little mini epiphany:

If I let myself, I’d perpetually be reading new blog posts, and learning new tools. There are literally an infinite number of things I could justify learning more about.

At some point we have to acknowledge that we simply can’t do everything.

And we can’t know everything.

That’s liberating to say out loud. Because then you start thinking about other places you can store that information where you can access it regularly.

And for me, that’s my network.

Most of my knowledge is not in my head, it’s in my network. (Tweet It)

Your Hard Drive

I’m not saying that I don’t try to learn things, I do. But I’m also strategic about where I keep this information.

Last night Sara and I were watching Sherlock Holmes on Netflix (worth a watch, btw).

And there’s a scene where John Watson is really shocked that despite all of his intelligence, Sherlock doesn’t know that the Earth orbits the Sun.

Anyway, Sherlock defends himself and explains the way he treats his brain this way:

He treats it like a hard drive, one that has limited space. And if it has limited space, you need to be judicious about how you use that space.

I’m not saying I agree with this 100% , but I think it’s a fascinating concept.

There’s a difference between having information, and having access to information. And a difference between having skills, and having access to skills.

One trend emerging as technology evolves, and small business does too, is that it is becoming more and more important to really find and dig into your niché. Then, dominate, don’t dabble. (Tweet Tweet)

Dominate, Don’t Dabble

Instead of trying to learn everything, and collecting as much information as possible; try cultivating a network with a broad range of strengths that complement and support yours.

And then focus more effort on your niché so that you can support them too. (Note: You can have more than one niche.)

If you’re reading this, then you’re part of my network. And I’m happy to be a part of yours too.

I’ve chosen Infusionsoft as the thing I’m going to be an expert in, at what I tell my Mom is an elite level.

My commitment is that I’ll do my part to stay current on as much as I can, and I’ll happy let you harvest that information when and if you need it, that way you can focus more of your time on whatever it is that you’re an expert in.