You may be surprised to hear this, and we mean no offense, but odds are you don’t know as much as you think you do. The truth is that you don’t even know what you don’t know. There will always be new information, gaps in your knowledge, details you may not be aware of, changes to plans and procedures. For this reason, it is impossible to know everything about everything. And it’s just as impossible to know everything about any one thing.

And that’s OK.

But what is not OK is to allow what you don’t know or are afraid to acknowledge to stand in the way of achieving your dreams. Here are some tips to help you determine what you don’t know and find out what you need to know.

Acknowledge the unknowns

In 2002, then U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld gave the following response during a news briefing about the lack of evidence linking the government of Iraq with the supply of weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups:

“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”

The terms “known unknowns” and “unknown unknowns” are often used in project management and strategic planning circles, but they apply to your personal life, as well. Simply put, known unknowns refers to risks you are aware of but can’t predict with certainty, such as the potential for an accident while driving, cancelled flights, a company closing down and laying off employees.

Unknown unknowns are risks that come from situations that are so unexpected that they would not be considered. For example, 30 years ago, video rental stores could not have imagined the invention of video streaming services or Red Boxes on every corner, and they probably didn’t foresee the risks these inventions posed to their business.

While it is nearly impossible to prepare and account for unknowns in life, they cannot be avoided. Simply recognizing that they exist and accepting that we can’t peer into the future or focus on what we can’t control now is hopefully enough to help us move forward despite the fears or risks.

Seek out experts

There is always someone who knows more than you do about something you need to know. Seek that person or those people out. Read about what they’ve learned and shared. Reach out to see if they’d be willing to answer any questions you may have, to share further experience and knowledge, or to possibly even serve as your mentor. Seeking out someone who is currently doing what you want to be doing will help you avoid making mistakes or wasting valuable time, money, and resources.

Thank goodness for the internet and social media, which allow us to identify and connect with experts in any field. Don’t be afraid to respectfully reach out to someone who has already arrived at the destination in which you are heading. And once you’ve arrived yourself, don’t forget to reach back and helps others along the way, too.

Speaking of experts, whether you want to write the next great screenplay, strengthen your relationships, improve your health and well being, start a business, self-publish your memoir, get more organized, or improve your public speaking skills, we’ve got a life coach who can help you fill in any gaps in your knowledge. Check out our professional life coaches here. Your first visit with them is free.

Don’t be afraid of failure

Don’t be afraid to fail. Failure is a part of life. For everyone. But it can be frustrating and demoralizing. Sometimes it is the result of poor choices or lack of preparation, but often times failure is beyond our control. It is only when we fail that we learn what doesn’t work. The act of failing means we gain more experience, and grow smarter and more efficient in our efforts to achieve a goal.

The next time you’re confronted with failure or feel yourself becoming overwhelmed by fear, focus on your goal and keep going. Don’t stop. That’s what matters. If you fall short, if you fail, simply go to bed and when you wake up, try again tomorrow.

Learn from mistakes

Whether it is a mistake you make yourself or one made by another individual, take the opportunity to accept the failure, evaluate the causes, and determine what can be done differently in the future. Then have the courage to change, to try something new, even if the risk of failure still exists or the sting from the previous failure still smarts.

It is in the failing that you learn what doesn’t work. Failure fills in the gaps in your knowledge and builds strength and resilience to overcome whatever struggles you will inevitably face in the future.

It can be frustrating and exhausting to be faced with unknowns, but it can also be exciting. What if the unknown that lies around the next bend or through a new door is actually your big break, your next opportunity, your happy accident? Instead of looking at unknowns as something to fear, view them as something to look forward to. Life is full of unknown surprises. May your next unknown be your biggest, happiest surprise yet.