Charlene Scott needs to know it all.
“She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful, and life was so short.”
Brian Andreas
My name is Charlene, and I need to know it all. Everything. I can’t stop it either.
I don’t necessarily care to be the most knowledgeable person in a room or to dominate final Jeopardy in front of millions one day. Instead, I have a strong urge to see and touch everything in this world. I want to look each person in the eye and feel the ground of every single country. I want to make sure I leave this world knowing at least a little bit of something about everything.
Simply put, I am fanatical about all of the things I don’t know yet, and a lot of my happiness comes from my journey to learn about them. As exhausting as this can be, I am proud to say that this has been one of the biggest elements to my success so far, not only in my career but also in my life. I was raised to always believe in myself and to speak with confidence, but like many other women, somewhere along the way, I developed a small voice that told me I wasn’t quite knowledgeable enough or experienced enough to truly have a seat at the table. I found myself only taking on tasks I knew I could achieve and only contributing to conversations when I was sure I was on the winning side of an argument.
Luckily for me, I’ve had leaders who knew I had muted myself to get by, and because of that, they encouraged my work on things and projects I was curious about and were patient with me when I floundered a bit while learning. They didn’t let me box myself in and stop when it got too easy to know just enough. My passion to learn and master things has become a celebrated part of my skillset. I am so grateful to be able to use my curiosity to better myself every day.
Only a few more steps till I can hopefully say I know it all.
