Table of Contents:

1. Introduction

2. What is ignorance?

3. Why are people ignorant?

4. Why is ignorance the #1 cause of death?

5. 10 Ways to know if you are ignorant!

6. What is the cure for ignorance?

7. Conclusion

Introduction

What if we told you that the number one cause of death is Ignorance! It's not heart disease or diabetes or cancer. It's plain old ignorance. How could ignorance be the number one cause of death you ask? Well, we are going to tell you shortly. But first, let's explore some things about ignorance. What does it mean to be ignorant? Why do some people decide to stay ignorant? How do you know if you are ignorant? What is the cure for ignorance or how can you reduce your ignorance and eliminate it from your life?

What is Ignorance?

According to the Merriam- Webster dictionary, ignorance is defined as "lack of knowledge, education or awareness." If you are ignorant, it holds you in a position of cluelessness or a complete naiveness about whatever situation you are ignorant about.

Why are people ignorant?

Many people stay ignorant for various reasons. Here are the top three reasons.

Lack of tools

Some people are ignorant because they do not have the tools or a mode of getting them to the right information to increase their knowledge. For example, if someone lives in a remote village or a part of the world where there is limited schooling, access to computers or cell phones or books. They can only know so much. Their view of the world or their cirumstances is limited because of lack of tools or resources.

Refusal to Learn

People are ignorant at times because they flat out refuse to learn anything new. They stew in their ignorance and like it that way. People who have all the tools to learn new things or increase their awareness, but they will not do it. According to Big Think people choose willful ignorance. Even making the bold assessment that 40% of people willfully choose to be ignorant. Could this be true? Are you choosing willful ignorance in your life?

Glorified ignorance

You would be surprised that a large amount of people think ignorance is cool. They glorify their ignorance and even make a living promoting ignorance. We are sure you have seen some ignorant things on social media. Their glorified lack of knowledge is revered and looked at as cool or the "in thing" so the ignorance continues.

Why is Ignorance the number # 1 cause of death?

In the beginning of our post, we made the bold statement that Ignorance is the number # 1 cause of death. So let's clarify and dive into how your ignorance can actually be killing you. Ignorance indirectly leads to death in the following ways:

1) Limiting decisions

Being ignorant limits your ability to make proper decisions. It creates a decision making process that is only based on a portion of the information. For example, Sally who is 44 eats 10 donuts per day. They are yummy but they are also filled with all kinds of saturated fat and loads of sugar. Sally decides to buy 10 donuts a day because she is not knowledgeable about how to read the nutritional information located on the donut package. Or completely ignores it. Her decision making process to consume so many donuts is based on limited information. She uses only how they taste as the main core of her decision. Sally unfortunately might not live to 50 if she continues eating that many donuts per day.

2) Ripple effect

Ignorance causes ripples that only lead to a domino of other bad decisions. One faulty decision can create ripples in your life that not only affects you but also affects others around you. For example, take Sam, a 24 year old who believes that taking a gun to a party is the best way to solve a misunderstanding he had with Sarah the day before- a single mother of 3. His start of ignorance was thinking that shooting Sarah would solve the dispute. Harming or killing Sarah would not only affect her but would ripple its way to her 3 kids and ultimately would change the course of Sam's life too.

3) Limiting possibilities

Death by ignorance does not have to be literal but it can also be metaphorical or symbolic as well. When you choose ignorance, you choose to limit your possibilities in major ways. Creating this cycle of unhappiness and hopelessness. That feeling that you are stuck or living a life not worth living. You wake up everyday doing the same things and expecting different results. Nothing changes unless you change. You become the walking dead. Existing and waiting for the real death to come.

10 Ways to know if you are ignorant!

1) You hate to read

This is by far the biggest reason why people are ignorant. Ignorant people think books and reading is like some alien endeavor reserved for everyone else. When you shy away from reading you will always remain ignorant. Books or reading in general is a key way to gain knowledge and gain more power. There is a saying: "if you want to hide anything important, put it in a book." It validates the notion that most people don't like to read. 

2) You like idleness

Being idle means you are not doing anything. You have no distinct purpose or direction at a given time. Idleness and ignorance go hand in hand. They feed off each other. Idleness exists for lack of knowledge of what to do.

3) Your network is unproductive

Fools attract fools. If you are hanging with the wrong group of people then you will always have the wrong kind of network. A good network is vital to creating a path to ending ignorance.

4) You hate knowledge

This one goes hand in hand with hate of reading. There are people who actually hate gaining knowledge. They turn down every opportunity to learn anything new or increase their brain power.

5) You make the same mistakes

Not surprisingly, ignorant people generally do not learn from their mistakes. They tend to make the same mistakes over and over again. They miss the chance to turn their mistakes into learning and growth opportunities.

6) You hate personal development

Ignorance and lack of personal development are best friends. Like best friends, they spend a lot of time together- doing absolutely nothing. If personal development is something you hate, then you might as well tattoo ignorance is my BFF on your forehead.

7) You always blame others

Not taking responsibility for your decisions or always blaming others is a big red flag. It screams "i'm too ignorant to man up or woman up." to the things I have done. It is always someone else's fault that your life isn't going the way you want it to. You never take responsibility for anything.

8) You are gullible

If you tend to believe everything that someone tells you, then you are ignorant. When people know that you are ignorant, then they will tell you every and anything because they know you are easily persuaded. They will take all your money because they know they can. They will also mistreat you and devalue you even more.

9) You have many bad habits

Do you smoke? Do you drink a lot? Do you gamble excessively? Habits Habits Habits, you name it you have some sort of habit. Not knowing or understanding how your habits are killing you is ignorance doing its best work on you.

10) You chase material things

Do you have to have the latest designer outfit? Or the latest Air Jordans? Or what about the latest and most expensive cars? When you chase after material things of especially of depreciating value, then you are ignorant. Things that have no legacy behind them or things you can't take with you when you die makes you foolish.

What is the cure for ignorance?

Okay, so you are ignorant! Now what? Truth be told we all have some level of ignorance inside of us. What separates people on the ignorant spectrometer(okay- we just made that up) is the dedication to finding a cure to their ignorance. What is the cure? In the big and broad sense, it is to gain more knowledge. But within the pursuit of more knowledge are things that you should be doing instead. Not surprisingly, the cure for ignorance is doing anti-ignorant things. Here there are:

1) Read more

If not reading enough is making you ignorant, then the remedy to that is simple- commit to reading more. You can read traditional books or you can use your smartphone and read things on there. The more you read, the more you will increase your base of knowledge. Don't let anyone deceive you, the library is not just for nerds. It is for the young and the old and anyone in between wanting to take advantage of free reading. Reading doesn't have to be boring, pick topics that you are genuinely interested in and read more about them as a starting point. This will truly open up your love of reading and eventually open up more topics to read about. To help you keep track of your reading adventures, fill out our reading tracker worksheet. This will allow you to see visually how your reading has expanded over a period of time. You will also see what you like to read more of, which will help you to define your interests. It goes without saying that there are many great benefits to reading more. Here are some of them:

>>>Reading will strengthen your vocabulary because you will ultimately learn new words you can incorporate into your personal or work life.

>>>Reading relaxes the mind which helps to reduce your stress level. It is hard to stay angry or stressed while enjoying a good book.

>>>Reading enhances and develops your creativity. It allows you to imagine new things and new possibilities. It also allows you to visualize and create what you believe is happening in the story or text that you are reading.

2) Fill your time with purpose and gratitude

If idleness promotes ignorance then time well spent is the solution. If you live your life with a renewed sense of purpose and an overall sense of gratitude then ignorance can never catch up to you. Wake up everyday with purpose, gratefulness and thankfulness in your heart. What are the things in your life that you think are great? Are you intental in how you view your life and those around you. Create a purpose and gratitude journal to remind you each day why you exist and why it is important to be thankful. Here is a FREE purpose and gratitude journal. Click here to gain access and download it.

3) Change or upgrade your network

As we mentioned before, if you hang with fools, you will become a fool yourself. This is why it is important to find people who are of a progressive mindset. What does that look like? What kind of people can help you better your life and reduce your ignorance? A strong network should do the following:

>>> They encourage you to do your best.

>>> They provide positive and constructive feedback to help you grow as a person.

>>> They don't just tell you what you want to hear- they tell you the truth.

>>> They enjoy the pursuit of knowledge and actively think of ways to enhance what they know.

>>> They promote positivity, kindness and goodness overall.

4) Turn mistakes into opportunities

If you fail to turn your mistakes into opportunities then you are missing out on this great cure for ignorance. Seeing your mistakes as a way to not only learn from them but to also grow from them is a gigantic step in personal development. Everyone fails or makes mistakes and we examine failure in our post: What is failure and how can we make the most of it? We challenge you to change how you feel about failure allowing great things to happen in your life.

5) Become goal oriented

Ignorance creates a ripple effect in your life but so does ambition and goal creation. Goals by nature allow you to seek out avenues for adjustment and vision creation. Life without goals is like a fish without water. It just doesn't make sense. Your goals should be SMART in nature. They should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Also, here is a quick read on 5 Ways to make yourself accountable after setting goals. We also recommend our SMART Goals Worksheet.

6) Take responsibility for your actions

Fools say it wasn't me even when caught red handed. Another huge sign of personal growth and development is having the ability to take responsibility for the things you have done. It is not only the right thing to do but it is highly empowering. Taking responsibility gives you the power to make things right again. It changes where you fall on what we have deemed the ignorant spectrometer.

7) Make due diligence your friend

Due diligence  is a legal term for taking the necessary steps to satisfying a requirement. A thorough undertaking before making a decision. It is a confirmation of facts and events that allows you to make an informed decision. Due diligence by its mere function is a knowledge seeking endeavor. It creates a path to a decision based on reading and learning or inquiring. It advances you from a place of prior knowledge into a better position. Make it your friend and see what happens. Here is a good decision making checklist that you can use- click here.

8) Get rid of toxic things

If toxicity and bad habits are keeping you in a place of feeling stuck- then it is time to get rid of them. Bad habits are not only bad for your body but they are probably costing you a lot of money too. They are holding you back. Keeping you enslaved to their trappings and holding you dependent on their seductive nature. If you know something is killing you, get rid of it.

9) Chase ROI

Return on Investment(ROI) should become part of your vocabulary as you pursue a heightened sense of knowledge. Ignorant people chase things that depreciate- they just make you feel good without any real return. On the flip side, go after things that will appreciate in value creating a positive ROI. Things such as investments or real estate. Both of which are not only for the rich, they too can be for ordinary people. Take Wallstreet Trapper( no affiliation to NLG) for example, a self-educated ex con who is making waves by teaching ordinary people how to invest in options Crushing his investment goals on a regular basis. But first he made the choice that he wanted a better life. You can too! He left ignorance behind and pursued knowledge in investment and it seems to be paying off for him.

10) Love Knowledge

Fall in love with knowledge this year! Pursue it like you have never pursued it before. Take courses, read books or watch a webinar. Explore everything that the pursuit of knowledge has to offer. You will not only feel more power but it will show up in everything that you do. Why? Because seeing knowledge as the vital medicine to your aching ignorance will help you to walk and talk better than you ever did before. We have several free courses on our platform- sign up to one of them- click here.

Conclusion

Ignorance is on a spectrum- the ignorant spectrometer as we like to call it at Next Level Gurus. But you get to decide which end of the spectrum that you want to stay on. Do you want to stay on the side that limits your decisions or possibilities or creates ripples of mistakes that affect your happiness. Do you want to move over to the cure? A cure that includes love of reading, accountability, SMART goals, informed decisions and ultimately  an infectious love of knowledge. Truth be told, we are all a little bit ignorant. But, what separates one ignorant person from another is their willingness to end their ignorance. If ignorance is killing you then finding your cure is not only vital, it is necessary.

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