Knowledge Isn’t Smart And Smart Isn’t Wise
by Miki Saxon
A couple of weeks ago, in an aside in a post about transformation, I said, “(‘wise’ being very different than ‘smart’).”
Since then, I got a couple of phone calls (I love phone calls; that’s why my number is displayed on the blog.) wanting to discuss the difference.
They both suggested I share my thoughts here, in case anyone else was curious — my thoughts based on my experience. Feel free to disagree.
Smart isn’t about what you know — that’s knowledge.
Smart isn’t about innate intelligence — but about how you use it.
Smart is about what you do with what you learn, whether from books, experience, the streets, general human interactions, or all of the above.
Learning starts when you’re born and continues all your life — or it should.
Obviously, you’ll be better off if it does — and in deep doodoo if it doesn’t.
Wise is a whole different thing.
There is no guarantee you’ll ever become wise — no matter how much you learn or how smart you become.
Wise starts when you apply what you learn to various situations, but goes way beyond the application.
Wise comes from applying, tweaking, synthesizing and repeating over and over in multiple versions and situations.
Wise isn’t something you say about yourself on social media; it’s something that others say about you — eventually.
Wise isn’t fast; it happens over a long period of time — no instant gratification, except the pleasure that comes from knowing that what you figured out worked.
Finally, while you can learn from devices, they will never make you smart, let alone wise.
Image credit: arvind grover
