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Practical wisdom is the ability to use knowledge, experience, and good judgment to make good decisions in real-life situations. It's a combination of knowledge, skills, and the ability to apply them in a practical way. It's about being able to understand and navigate the complexities of life and make the best decisions in any given situation. This is different from theoretical knowledge, which is the knowledge that is acquired through study and learning but is not necessarily applied in practice. It requires a deep understanding of the context and the ability to take into account multiple perspectives and factors.
Practical wisdom is important to understand as you develop your own identity and are in the process of figuring out who you are and what you want, and navigating the complexities of life. Striving to be practically wise can help you to make better decisions, understand the consequences (good and bad) of your choices, and navigate life gracefully.
The ability to use knowledge, experience, and good judgment to make good decisions in real-life situations takes time and patience to learn. It's a combination of knowledge, skills, and the ability to apply them in a practical way. The result is that as you navigate the complexities of life, you will find you begin to make the best decisions in any given situation.
Do
Start small, and reflect on the experiences you’ve had where you wish you did things differently. It doesn’t have to be a big regret - a small but noteworthy experience that you’ve earmarked as “hmm, I won’t do it that way next time”. Think about that realization and see the difference between what you did and what you’d want to do - is it the right thing?
It’s sort of a loaded question isn’t it - one of those: you need experience in learning to get the experience needed to start learning. While it seems like that on the offset, it’s important to acknowledge that this is life judgment. Taking time to reflect and keeping this entirely in your head will slowly build up your experience of navigating difficult scenarios where you want to change. Over time you will see you are more comfortable with actioning that change, but for now, just focus on thinking and noticing.