Live Your Life
Knowing is Not Enough
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Welcome to the next episode of this mini series of Live your Life!
This is Dave and I’m here once again to share some ideas that will motivate and inspire you to live the life that you want–a life truly lived!
For today’s topic, I’d like to ask you, my listeners . . .
Have you ever asked yourself why sometimes you feel like you know something but when you actually do it, you don’t really know how?
If you’ve heard the first episode, you probably already know, I am a big fan of attending seminars. A recent one I attended was a seminar for trainers. Basically, we were taught about the secrets of training–engaging the audience, closing on stage, and even how to use a flip chart!
The training got me all pumped up. I felt like since I now know the secret, I can do any kind of training. I mean I saw the trainer, he was a master, and I saw how easy it was for him to do. If he can do it, I can do it, too. Right!
A few days later, I held a training on a new topic. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was nowhere near the mentor’s performance. Not even close. In fact, I even thought I made a fool of myself!
Although I thought I applied all the things I learned, I still felt I messed everything up. It was as if I was not myself and the response I got was not what I envisioned it to be.
I noticed the same pattern when I tried to learn how to surf.
I joined a surf camp two years ago. As a diligent student, I also tried to watch YouTube videos so I can learn more about it–the different forms, how to position myself on the board, how to tackle the waves, when to pump, when to stand, how to balance, the works.
On the day of the camp, I realized they taught exactly the same stuff. And it gave me the false impression I was ready! So I went and gave it a try and flopped! It wasn’t until the third day, yes, three full days of trying to stand and ride a wave on my own, that I was finally able to do it!
I’m not saying all these examples because I am such a failure, although I must admit I am quite clumsy. But my point is, it made me realize that knowledge alone is not enough. Time and time again, I realized that having knowledge alone does not always equate to power. So Ernie Baron’s classic cliche about knowledge being power, may not be entirely true.
Today, I truly believe that knowledge without application is useless.
Think about it, if knowledge was all we needed, all the people would have six-packs, everyone would be millionaires or have hundreds of thousands in the banks. Nowadays, we’re so lucky to have the Internet as it gives us all the answers we need right at our fingertips.
If this is true, then what happened?
Why is everyone not getting the results???
It’s all because knowledge is not power, applied knowledge is.
And sometimes, we’re so good at being knowledgeable that we think knowing is already enough.
I’ve met someone, whom I shared about investment and how I placed money in a local cooperative, I know at that time she was needing some financial tips because of her situation, and guess what she said, “kahibaw nako ana.”
I thought to myself cool, but months passed, years passed, she still hasn’t invested in it and there I was reaping the benefits of getting passive income.
She never took action!
Like her, she has the deadly habit of using the worst phrase in the world, According to T Harv Eker, the worst phrase in the world is kahibaw nako ana (I know that already).
The worst because it keeps us from truly learning something, from truly applying something because we think that knowledge is enough when it is indeed not.
Now, I want you to look into your life, what are the things that you think you want to change and improve in your life?
Did you know exactly what to do?
Now think of the things that you were successful in life, might be saving a 100k in the bank or passing an exam?
What was the difference?
Action is the differentiator.
I really like how someone I heard from a podcast puts it.
“Knowledge is knowing while wisdom is actually doing it.”
Today, I want you to consider that unless you take action and truly imbibe the things that you know, that’s the only time you truly learn.
You could watch all the videos about surfing or swimming, but it won’t be useful until you finally jump in the water and swim or surf for yourself!
If you’re guilty of this or want to master this concept and apply it in your life, then here are the three steps for you:
1. Awareness
If you just know the subject matter versus actually doing it and having it in your life
Awareness is the key, it’s now time to face the truth and stop lying to yourself.
Are you just knowing about something or are you really doing it?
Let’s take weight loss for example, the formula is simple, it’s to cut down on your intake and add more activities to burn calories, so have a calorie deficit and eventually, lose weight. That’s basically it, but if you are not doing this on a regular basis then you will never get results.
I want you to list down the goals that you are not achieving in your life, and then list down the necessary actions you need to take to make it a reality.
Don’t say you know it, just do it.
2. Take Small Steps
As you already know, taking action is the differentiator but you don’t have to take a massive step or action to make this happen.
Overpromising or doing too much, and taking so much that you can’t chew, is a recipe for disaster and failure, but most importantly, a recipe for frustration.
And you don’t want to be frustrated because frustration always leads to becoming a victim and giving up.
You wanted to take a small first step.
When I first started investing in the stock market, I could only save 1 thousand a month, that’s all I can afford to save and invest.
But just taking that one step, made such a huge impact on me. It’s like a domino that started to tumble 100 or 1000 more.
It made me realize that it is possible! And sometimes that’s all that matters.
Which brings us to the third step…
3. Stay Consistent
The more you do it, the more you get used to it, the more you get better at doing it, and the more it becomes a habit.
As they say, we are creatures of habit that in fact almost all we do in our day, 40% of it is on automation, the way you brush your teeth, taking a bath, work routines, drinking coffee, cooking, etc.
The goal is to make what you wanted to change in your life and the actions involved to become a habit
This way it’s automated and which gives you a huge momentum.
Consistency is also the path to mastery.
According to research, you need 10,000 hours to master something. Are you committed enough to spend 10,000 hours to master something?
May it be starting a business, learning a new skill, or improving your physique by daily training?
Eventually, you get results, as long as you show up each day. This opens up momentum and even gets you compounding results (which by the way is a topic in itself, which we will discuss in another episode!)
And once you do all these steps, you get results, you no longer just know about something but you actually do it and make it a part of your life, then you can truly say, you learned something!
Today, I want you to take action, I want you to check on these steps and write down the things that are not working and what daily steps or actions you will take.
This marks the end of our show, and I hope you learned something in this episode.
If you like this, episode, please share it with your friends. If you disagree or have further clarifications about this, feel free to join the group and ask your questions or start a discussion there.