Knowledge is power
02:23am (WAT)… can’t sleep lol… this is happening too often
We learn every day, but how many times do we actually put what is learnt into practice?
We give good advice to others on daily basis, but how many times do we practice what we preach? Lol don’t bother pointing fingers… I don’t always take my own advice too.
It is saddening how limited we are, or rather, how limited we make ourselves, blaming it on being human. How difficult it is for us to execute the needed actions and not just what we feel like doing.
I do read a lot, mostly stuff outside the scope of my expertise (Law), to get bits of knowledge here and there, philosophy here, psychology there, success stories here, and motivational speeches there. I am making progress, or at least I like to think so, although I still lack control over some innate desires which seem to still be dragging me back.
I like to tell myself I am a writer, not a preacher, in a bid to satisfy my conscience when it pricks me about not practicing what I ‘write’.
Why so hypocritical?
What is the use of having all the advice and life patterns to make waves stored up in your head without having a use for them in your life?
So, today, I am making the stand to do as I learn and ‘write’, after all Application, not knowledge is power.
Funny, I saw your headline, and I was all ready to come here and say, "Actually, knowledge isn't really that valuable unless you apply it." And here you've already said it. Well done!
There is a more interesting aspect of this failure, I think, and it may relate to your (and my) difficulty in pushing forward to do some writing.
Let's take the idea of a diet, or eating healthy as an example. Say a person knows that by eating a lot of sugar and junk, they will keep their pounds on, or gain more. They KNOW it. And they do WANT to lose weight. Yet, they make no change to their eating habits, no action is taken, and nothing changes. Here, knowledge has no value, because it was not applied.
But the question is: why was it not applied? Laziness? Maybe. But I don't think that's really it. I think the biggest hurdle for people to get past when trying to apply new knowledge is BELIEVING that the change will lead to their goals. And I think that belief is hard, because you have to apply that belief for every small, individual action; when in fact no small action by itself can lead to significant results; it is only the sum of many small actions that accomplishes anything important.
Example: our diet guy, he's hungry, and he's faced with a doughnut. Sure, he KNOWS doughnuts are fattening. But his choice in that moment to decline that doughnut really isn't going to make him lose any weight. Not in the long run. So he figures, eh, I'm hungry and I'll just eat the doughnut. Applying this knowledge will not achieve my result.
Same goes for something you want to write: eh, why bother? This one bit of writing probably isn't going to lead to any big success. Might as well watch some TV or get some sleep.
I think what's missing, and what's hard, is applying the long view in these situations. Foregoing a doughnut, or writing one little story - these things won't achieve a big win in and of themselves. It's the dozens or hundreds of little choices and little wins that will actually get you where you need to go. And remembering that and applying that is hard.
Wise words and very insightful... Thank you
Yeaaah, ACTIVE knowledge is power and when I say active knowledge I mean knowledge put into practice. You don't just sit down in one place a the time and claim to be knowledgeable , got out, be practical, let people see and benefit from what you've got!
Yes, your right, Knowledge is power, but the application of it is more powerful than the storing up the knowledge. if we continue to practice what we learn especially the good once, we will have a better future. good work. keep it up.
Thank you
Not doing what we Preach (write) is a reflection of inner conflicts in every human. We oversimplify actions, so feel overwhelmed when faced with reality...
Remember; talk is cheap.
I strongly recommend this book by Richard Thaller (2017 Nobel peace price winner in economics ) - "Misbehaving".
Your analysis, always impressive... I'll do well to check that