Information, Knowledge, Wisdom - Which serves you best in your life?

Information . . . Knowledge . . . Wisdom

Which serves you best in your life?

Tim Connor

How do I keep an article on information and knowledge brief when during the past twenty years there has been a daily relentless explosion of new information, research and inventions and ideas that invade our lives on a moment by moment basis?  OK, so 

I will stick to four basics;

1)What is the difference between information, knowledge and wisdom?

2)How does information impact knowledge?

3)How does knowledge impact wisdom?

4)How does wisdom impact life?

But first a definition of each.

Information – Words and more words.  Simple huh? Well think about it – do an internet search on any topic and what do you get – millions of words. Information can be valuable or of no value to you at all but in the end it’s just more and more words. Now here’s the dictionary definition - the collected facts and data about a specific subject.

Knowledge – Specific information about a topic of interest. Learned skills from practical study, research and/or practice. Now here’s the dictionary definition - general awareness or possession of information, facts, ideas, truths, or principles.

Wisdom –  The ability to use specific appropriate knowledge and information in a situation where you want or need a specific result or outcome. The ability to blend information, knowledge and experience in a practical and useful way to aid in a better outcome.    Now here’s the dictionary definition - good sense shown in a way of thinking, judgment, or action.

What is the difference between information, knowledge and wisdom?

I don’t have to tell you what information is – if you have a computer, IPad or IPhone I’ll wager you spend a minimum of one - two hours a day searching for something, somewhere. Just look at any page on any device and it is filled with words (information).  What makes all of this stuff useful or not, is its ultimate value on a topic or subject of interest to you, otherwise it’s just gibberish. If you spent every minute of every day of every year of your life from now on you would not even scratch the surface of the available new information available each day.

Knowledge is gained by learning or becoming aware of appropriate information that you feel will add value in some way to your career, relationships or life in general.  Knowledge can be gained from specific information regarding something you value in your life – whether a financial, medical, family, hobby or interest or career or business issue. Knowledge is deciding what information is valuable to you.  For example if this article does not interest you, you will most likely stop reading and move on to some other area or topic of interest. If it does you will keep reading.  Here’s a major point to consider – you get 24 hours a day to use as you see fit.  When you spend time on any topic or area you eliminate the ability to spend that same time on every other subject.

In a great book by Marvin Cetron 25 years ago he stated that we are currently doubling man’s accumulated knowledge every 7-9 years and he predicts that by 2025 we will be doubling it every 5-7 days – scary huh?

Wisdom is a choice – of whatever information you have available and how you can apply it and then the ability to use this knowledge in an effective and appropriate way.  Some would call it common sense.  But it’s much more than that as my mentor Mark Twain was fond of saying, “We have to stop calling it common sense as this implies everyone has it.  We need to start calling it uncommon sense since so few people have it.”

How does information impact knowledge?

If you are overwhelmed by information, mostly by choice, you will find it very challenging to wade through in a respectful period of time to determine which facts and material are relevant to your current or future needs or desires when it comes to what you need to know and why or when. Here’s one of the problems – we are turning over our search for and use of information to technology and losing many of the basic skills like thinking, creating, writing and evaluating. I ask you – how many 15 year olds do you think can spell, do basic math or even write a complete grammatically correct sentence?  I would guess very few can do all of these.

When you are overwhelmed with facts, figures, or resources it will tend to limit your ability to find the best information for you to make wise choices.  Just do a simple Google search on any topic and I’ll bet at least a million choices appear for you to evaluate and consider.  The main issue here is time.  While you are searching through many of these choices to find the best answer (knowledge) you may miss the best ones or even the right ones due to your lack of patience or available time.

How does knowledge impact wisdom?

Think of knowledge as a tool box.  You have purchased a tool, added it to your box and it is now available when the need arises.  If you have a challenge in life and you don’t have the proper tool (knowledge) in your tool box you will tend to default to an alternative tool (approach, decision or reaction/response).  In some cases this alternate might work or even be an effective approach, but wouldn’t it be better to use the best or right tool?

Here’s the problem – if you don’t have the tool you may not make the best decision or take the best action.  So wouldn’t it make sense to keep adding new tools (new knowledge) to your box that you feel you might need in the future rather than wait for a crisis or challenge and then hope the right tools show up?  I’ll let you decide.  But in the end if you have the tools you are better equipped to act responsibly, maturely and from a position of wisdom.

How does wisdom impact life?

We all face unique and sometimes repeat challenges in our life.  The key to resolving these in a timely, appropriate and effective way is by using a combination of wisdom, common sense and the lessons from your personal history.  Yes, some people have more common sense and experience than others given their maturity, age or willingness to learn, grow and change but in the end we all can bring a greater degree of wisdom to any situation.  The key is to be willing to learn and then apply this learning to situations as they arise.

Without this applied wisdom we are all doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again until we finally “get it”.

Wisdom can save time, stress, fear, anxiety, frustration, disappointment and failure although failure can be a valuable tool if it leads to greater wisdom. Wisdom can increase the chance of success, improve relationships and enhance happiness, contentment and inner peace.

“The best part of our knowledge is that which teaches us where knowledge leaves off and ignorance begins. With this understanding we can create wisdom.”

O.W. Holmes