Forgetting What We Know

[Knowing & Doing - II]

Doing what we know is easy.

I mean this in a basic way. All the rudimentary tasks in a given day we do without thinking. Brushing teeth, getting dressed, pouring milk. We know it. We do it. It takes no brain power.

But I also mean more consequential tasks. Like paying a mortgage, getting timely repairs done on your car, maintaining distant friendships. Not mindless, but still stuff that we know how to do.

What about the stuff we don’t know how to do? Pouring concrete in our garage. Investing in aggressive stocks. Installing solar panels. Any number of things could go on this list. Not knowing how to do them is precisely what gives them value. The more obscure or technical or specialized a task, so long as there is demand, the more valuable they are.

But also, what we know and neglect creates value, too. Repairing neglected teeth, is a great example. How much is a root canal these days?

Forgotten is the value of rudimentary tasks when we forget to do them (and eventually forget how to do them).

As we lose basic skills, value for those skills (and repairing from their neglect) will skyrocket.