G.I. Joe Lied To Us—Knowing Is Not Half The Battle

For anyone who is a G.I. Joe fan, they would know this quote very well.

Knowing is half the battle.

Recently, I started with the course The Science of Well-Being on Coursera as an antidote to the COVID-19 quarantine. The course started off with a rather bold statement.

Knowing is not actually half the battle.

We, humans, are imperfect. And once we know our weakness, we can easily focus and get rid of them. Sounds solid and true. Know the subject you are weak at, focus on it, score better marks.

However, this is not the case always. The most obvious example is showing how our visual system is flawed.

Which of the two circle is bigger? The right one, right? Both are the same size. This illusion is called Ebbinghaus Illusion, named after it's discoverer. The GIF below shows that the circle are actually of the same size and how the size of their neighbouring circle trick our vision system.

The sad part is even if we know about this illusion, our vision system is still tricked by it. And not only our vision system, but also our brain.

So, even when we know that we are lacking somewhere, just knowing is not half the battle.

We need much more than just knowing our flaws.

We need continuous, sustained, and disciplined effort to succeed.

That's why, after getting to know yourself, forming effective habits is probably a more important part of "the battle" to tackle our flaws.

Note: I am not in any way affiliated to Coursera or Yale University (providing the course).