I DO NOT NEED TO KNOW

If I ask a question "What is it that makes a man successful?" then one of the answers that I am sure to receive is "Knowledge". For the geek oriented this can be mathematically put as Success is directly proportional to knowledge. While not all knowledgeable people will become successful the fact is that most people will acknowledge that the more you have knowledge of your line of activity, the greater the chance of success.

But in this age of networking and connectivity is this really true? I believe that to be truly successful instead of just accumulating knowledge, I need to know first what I DO NOT need to know. There is so much data out there that trying to understand and assimilate everything can lead to so much overload on our finite energies that it can actually be detrimental to the success of our activity. For eg. for success in trading, I need to know that I do not need to know the expected earnings of any of the companies in the stock market. I do not need to know whether Indian GDP growth next year will be 6% or 7% or more. I do not need to know how to predict US unemploymeny/IIP numbers into the future. I do not need to know whether Syriza will win the Greek elections. I do not need to know whether he will renegotiate the agreement with EU in case he wins. I do not need to know the future of the Euro.

Once, I know what I DO NOT know and what I DO NOT NEED to know, I am left with a couple of things that I have to GET TO know. This will immediately soften the workload and help me focus better on those things that matter.