I’ve learned that I can never assume that I know what someone wants.

I can’t assume that they know, either.

Interestingly, they might already have that which they say they are looking for, or at least the means to acquire it. However, they’ve been on their quest for so long, they don’t even notice this. Their eyes are fixed firmly forward, unable to see what’s around them.

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Sometimes, we get attached to a particular goal that we think we have to reach.

Perhaps this goal has been with us for so long that we don’t even question whether it is something we want to achieve -- it’s become our destiny.

The “why” behind a goal like this might be simply, “Because I feel like it.” Sometimes, asking “why” becomes an obstacle to doing something challenging (“I have to figure out why I have this resistance to asking for a raise”) or a needless distraction (“I have to figure out why I don’t like going to kids’ birthday parties”) or can only become clearer as you move forward (“Why do I love Busby Berkley musicals so much?”).

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A friend of mine has taken up the guitar, at long last.

On some level, she wanted to prove to herself that she could do it. She wanted to overcome a lifelong block about her potential as an instrumentalist and heal the damage that was done to her self-concept many years ago when she tried and failed.

But mostly, she is doing it because it’s fun. She’s not out to save the world.

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What do you do when you run out of ideas?

Seth Godin has written about the nature of writer’s block and the fact that it is invented. It’s designed to let us off the hook when the going gets rough and we’re afraid to make something new – or afraid that we can’t.

It’s amazing the capacity of the human brain to rationalize and make up excuses for why we are the way we are and why we can’t do the things that we need to do, especially when they’re challenging. Indeed, it is the safer thing to do to not write, to not make stuff, to not put our ideas out there.

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The body of collective human knowledge is impossibly vast and cannot be mastered in one lifetime.

That doesn’t mean we don’t bother to learn stuff. But we have to freely acknowledge to kids that there is no possible way to know everything. Otherwise, we create the illusion that they are learning everything they need to know in school.

So how do we approach learning without getting overwhelmed?

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