Best Definition of Wisdom – Why Wisdom is Important for Your Success and Happiness

What is the best definition of wisdom and why is wisdom so important?

Wisdom Is Knowledge That Comes From Experience

The best definition: Wisdom is the knowledge that comes from experience.

Wisdom is important because it provides you the practical knowledge and habits that give you the best chance for success and Happiness in life.

Remember when you were learning to drive a car? In your driver’s education class, you were taught that if you press the brake pedal, the car will slow down and stop. That’s a good thing to know, but does knowledge-about braking make you good at braking a car?

Of course not. Would you feel comfortable riding in a car in heavy traffic with a new driver just learning to use the brake?

To get good at braking a car, you must practice using the brake thousands of times in different kinds of traffic and weather, and with different vehicle weights.

With experience using the brake, comes wisdom about braking. With experience, you develop wisdom and begin to recognize traffic patterns, closure rates, weather, how your vehicle drives, and stopping distances.

When you practice braking thousands of times, you develop and intuitive, common sense understanding of braking and driving. It becomes a habit—part of your being, your character—who you are. That’s wisdom.

Wisdom doesn’t just apply to driving, but to any skill or habit like:

• Walking
• Sports
• Relationships
• Parenting
• Work
• Virtues like honesty and courage

The more wisdom/skilled you are at something, the more likely you are to be successful at it and fulfilled by it. The master surgeon, master carpenter and master parent have more experience/wisdom than novices and perform better. And when you get good at something, you are more likely to find it fulfilling.

People new to skills or roles often feel overwhelmed by the speed and complexity of the new activity. This is true in all areas of life like driving a new car, being a new parent, moving up a level in sports, and starting a new job.

Situational Awareness Comes From Wisdom

The more wisdom/experience you have, the more you recognize the underlying patterns in the activity, and the more situational awareness (SA) you have of what is going on around you. Situational awareness is the intuitive understanding/feel for the dynamics going on around you.

A new driver has very limited situational awareness. They are so focused on basic driving that they aren’t aware of cars around them, traffic flow, bicyclists, etc. Their situational awareness extends just a few feet in front of the car.

With practice/experience/wisdom, driving becomes simpler, slower, and less overwhelming. The new driver’s situational awareness increases. They can better handle more complex situations coming at higher speeds and intensity. They begin to see further down the road.

Vision Comes From Wisdom

The more wisdom/experience you have, the further down the road you can see. This is true of every skill, activity, or role you are developing—not just driving. Seeing further down the road is what we call vision.

Vision is situational awareness of the underlying patterns around you and the ability to see where they lead in the future. Vision comes from wisdom/experience.

Vision gives you an enormous advantage in anything you do. Vision enables you to recognize problems early and avoid them. Vision reveals opportunities so you can take advantage of them before others do.

Why Wisdom Gives You the Best Decision-making

Wisdom, situational awareness, and vision give you the best chance to make the best decisions possible ahead of others.

With good vision, wise football quarterbacks know what a defense is going to do earlier. That enables them to avoid blitzes, and recognize and take advantage of favorable matchups. A wise offensive coordinator demonstrates vision by thinking several plays ahead, keeping the defense reactive and at a disadvantage.

A business leader with vision sees business opportunities and problems before competitors do. Vision gives her a big advantage over competitors because she can be first-to-market while minimizing errors.

With vision, wise parents see ahead, anticipating what their children will do, developing them with good experiences and avoiding problems.

With better wisdom/vision, the best chess players see moves ahead of their opponents. That’s why they win.

Wisdom is Critical for Productivity

Finally, the more wisdom you have, the more people will trust and commit to you. At work, you will get more engagement and productivity from your people, and more freedom from your supervisor. You’ve got a much better chance of finding the best spouse/partner possible. Your friendships will be deeper, more committed, and more fulfilling.

Wisdom is essential for developing the committed, high-trust, high-performance relationships in all areas of life that bring success and happiness in life.

Summary: Wisdom Gives You 6 Advantages for Success and Happiness

Wisdom is the knowledge that comes with experience.

We develop wisdom by practicing a skill, role, or trait, until it becomes a habit, part of our character, part of who we are.

Wisdom, habits, character—are all deeply connected.

Wisdom gives you increasing situational awareness and extended vision. These allow you to make better decisions earlier than others.

Wisdom maximizes individual and team performance by increasing trust, commitment, and better decision-making.

By increasing trust, wisdom is a cornerstone for developing the relationships that give you the best chance for success and happiness in life.