Kayvan K.
Kayvan K. is a leadership coach and expert working with McKinsey in Europe, with over 20 years of experience. He is also a board advisor and a multi-published author for a number one bestseller series.
“The most dangerous thing about an academic education is that it enables my tendency to over-intellectualize stuff, to get lost in abstract thinking instead of simply paying attention to what’s going on in front of me.”
—David Foster Wallace
The ancient thinker Democritus is considered by many to be the father of modern science and is known for his theory that everything is made of atoms.
He believed that knowledge was something to be reached through the intellect, based on observations through the senses. In other words, theory couldn’t be detached from everyday experience.
This line of thinking isn’t just appropriate for science classrooms and laboratories. It’s applicable in daily life, too. When you pay closer attention to what is happening right in front of you, you will notice important signals you would’ve otherwise missed.
Intellectual people, especially those fresh from university, are often eager to grasp new concepts and ways of thinking. However, this can lead to a trap of overlooking what is actually happening.
To be sure you don’t become lost or disconnected, the advice is therefore to “look and act closer.” When you do this, life becomes richer. You taste the food you’re eating and hear the music that’s playing. You’re able to understand the conversation instead of just being physically present. You receive immediate feedback from your environment and can adapt to it instead of thinking, “Well, the book said this,” or “That’s not what I thought would happen.” Democritus’s thinking can bring our observations and actions closer to the world as it is.
What Would Democritus Do?
As you can see, this “inductive method” pushes you to get in touch with how things actually work, not just how they should work. It’s rooted in this idea of being connected to your environment and reacting to the feedback you receive. Think of Thomas Edison as he worked on the light bulb. His focus was on the results of each experiment; he continuously refined and tested his formulas and scientific principles.His work exemplified this quote, which is attributed to many but actually has unknown origins: “In theory, there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is.”
Books and other trusted and curated sources of information are a great way to gather knowledge, but they are simply a jumping-off point for the acquisition of wisdom, which also comes from practice and experience, as well as opening your eyes to that experience.
Thankfully, cultivating a mindset that is in touch with the “world of atoms” is easier than you might think. It starts with using your senses more often. When you’re out on a walk, for example, don’t just see the path in front of you. Listen to the world. Smell the air. Touch the rocks and plants.
This practiced form of observation will also serve you well at work. When you finish a meeting with a client or employee, ask yourself, What did I see or hear firsthand during that interaction? Were these observations relevant? Did they reduce uncertainty? In other words, were they informational? These reflective questions ensure you don’t overlook or forget the signals your environment was giving you.
Don’t be afraid to experiment or break out of your routine. Let’s say instead of writing a message, you call a friend. Did that work better to de-escalate the situation? What can you learn from your new observations?
Finally, cultivate a curiosity around how things actually work. Expose yourself to different areas of society to see how others do their jobs. Do they match your notions of how that work was done? You might be surprised—and enlightened—by what you find, not only in theory but also in practice.