We all enjoy learning. What we love more than that is teaching. The problem with learning is we tend not to finish the learning part. We skip right to the teaching. The downside to this is giving inaccurate but thought to be accurate information. There are other downsides to learning also. I’m talking about those who complete the learning part. Well, “learning” is never complete. We grab enough understanding to know what is right and what is wrong. Here, we discover a new problem. The issue is sharing information with the wrong people. Information can be underappreciated. It can fall on deaf ears. Knowledge can be disregarded. Our information can be used 100% but, our name is missing when the question of who the information came from is asked. This scenario causes anger. This scenario causes the want to share the knowledge we have to dwindle. These facts are why we should be careful sharing our knowledge.

Have you discovered a new topic or maybe a subtopic in something you are familiar with? Do you feel the urge to run out and tell everyone about what you’ve learned? Before running and telling everyone what you know, ask yourself do you know enough? Do you know enough to stop someone from potentially hurting themselves or others sharing that exact information? Do we know the information we read to be true? Do we believe that we know enough about the topic to explain two and three questions deep? If not, we should be careful in sharing this information. It’s just not the time to do so. We should enjoy the new information we’ve grasped but must understand there is more to the story. If we feel the information needs to be shared, we must first confirm what we are sharing to be factual. The danger here is someone who blindly trusts you, taking that information and running into a wall with it.

Let’s take the crypto craze as an example. The people who get in on the uptick of a crypto “bull run” instantly believe that they are crypto experts. The problem here is they have not experienced a crypto “bear phase”. They’ve experienced seeing their hundreds of dollars turn to potentially tens of thousands of dollars or more only to go back to hundreds of dollars or less. The person new to crypto runs to their family, friends, and co-workers in an attempt to convince everyone that they should put their money into this newfound investment opportunity. This person’s heart is in the right place but, their mind isn’t. Are they experts or knowledgeable enough to convince those in their circle to take their hard-earned money and invest in something they don’t know? How is that possible? It’s not. The lesson here, unfortunately, is not learned until those people’s hard-earned money turns to 70 or 80% less than what it was when they first invested. Be careful who you share your information with.

Let’s touch on those who know what they’re sharing. These are the people who have been through a storm or two. They have vetted the information they’re sharing. They share this information with people who they feel can use it best. They share this information regardless of the time it took to learn the aspect of a topic they’re sharing. This information could have taken them a decade or more to learn. This information could have cost them tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn. When they share this information with others, it’s a huge deal. If the information they are sharing isn’t utilized in the way they believe it should, they can become angry. If the information is used and benefits the person they told and everyone in that person’s circle, they expect gratitude. Lack of it can be considered a slap in the face.

This potential feeling of disrespect is why it’s best to be careful with who you share your information. If you are one of these people and choose to share your information, this is the risk. No matter what it “cost” you. You cannot expect those people who you choose to share with to understand that price. Consider your share of information as a donation. You must share it because you feel like sharing out of the goodness of your heart. If you have trouble doing that, don’t share. No one’s going to understand or value the information as much as you do because only you know what it cost. It is someone taking knowledge from you, running with it, and showing no gratitude for it. It will hurt you. Protect yourself. Choose what it is you will and will not share. You’re not a terrible person for protecting yourself.

In closing, be careful sharing your knowledge. Only a few in this world understands what it takes to get information. The person who grew up poor and somehow made their way to riches has almost priceless information. The person who has started with millions, lost it, gained it back, to lose it again also has invaluable information. We are not very good at placing value on something we can’t put a monetary value on. That’s the problem with knowledge and information. Schools and places of higher learning attempt to do so but, all the prices are different. These variations are because no one knows the value. The value comes in what you do with the information, not simply grasping it.

Food for thought… You do the dishes!