Know. Want. Care.

I don’t know how to change the oil in my car. I’m sure I could figure it out but I don’t actually want to know and don’t much care to learn. So the fact I don’t know how is irrelevant. You may not know how to fly a 747 jet but you may have the aptitude and even the interest to take the years of school and training required to learn. So the fact you don’t know is replaced by the desired to find out.

In my work, a manager may say to me; “I don’t know how to navigate all the different personalities on my team”, but she may add that she wants to learn. What’s important is not that she doesn’t know how, but that she has the desire to figure it out.

Do you know, want, or care?

We can read books and articles about the brave who have made bold moves in their lives. We are impressed by their fortitude but when relating it to something in our own lives, it may not seem so simple.

The three motivating factors for most of what we do in our lives is whether we know how to, want to, or care to. Simple to say, not always easy to do, but not knowing how to do something may not be the end result.

Mean what you want

A friend of mine recently shared a situation in his life where a relationship isn’t going so well. He is frustrated and says he doesn’t know how to change it. I asked him one simple question – do you want to find out how to change it? He said is isn’t sure. That may sound odd but it makes sense.

We get caught in situations and they become our comfort zone and we play out all the scenarios of what could happen if we made changes and we get stuck. So his desire to change it, is still unclear. The fact he doesn't know how, almost becomes irrelevant.

Discovering whether we want or care is critical.
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Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit