# What We Don't Know but Think Anyway By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2023-09-09 Humans are curious creatures. We humans frequently think. Likely, there is almost always something going on in our minds. A potentially interesting aspect of human thinking is the degree to which it is unconstrained by knowledge. People can and do think about things they know well, but they also hold thoughts almost entirely without information. Manifestations of this can be found in unexpected places. Certain careers seem exciting and rewarding. Often, people think they want to work in those professions. Other careers seem tedious. Often, people think they want to avoid working in those professions. From this limited thinking emerges what could be called the second-career phenomenon. As one works, one might discover that the “flashy” aspects of a preferred career didn’t deliver and that elements of a profession that were unknown and discounted become enticing. Key to the second career phenomenon is that people tend to stay in that second profession for the remainder of their careers. An interesting question to ask various professionals is, was this their first career choice? For those who answer no, a follow-up question would be why this wasn’t their first career choice. Understanding where people tend to start and where they tend to end up is useful information. One might use this information to position oneself in terms of career selection and execution strategically. Without information, we tend to fill in the gaps with what we think we know. Often, that information is suspect. Much wasted time and effort is pursued based on what we don’t know but think anyway. #### Related Items [[Career]] [[Thinking]] [[Knowledge]] [[Value]] [[Information]] [[Waste]]