If Knowledge is Power, Why Are Professors So Poor?
How many times have you heard the statement "knowledge is
power"? How many times have you been told "you have to go to
college to get a good job"? If that is the case, why aren't the
smartest people the richest or most powerful? Why don't Mensa
members fill all the highest slots in the government and run all
the big companies? Why have some of the richest people in
history been folks of moderate intelligence and sometimes much
less than moderate education? Is the connection between
knowledge and success just a bunch of hogwash?
In a word, NO, but unfortunately our teachers left something out.
Over and over we have heard statistics that college graduates
earn X percent more money a year than non-college graduates. We
have also been told repeatedly that if "you don't have a good
education, you'll never get a good job and you'll be a loser all
your life".
What most people have taken from that, is that if you get a
great education and hold high degrees, you will automatically
make much more money and be much more successful in life.
Sound's logical. But that's WRONG. So what is the secret
ingredient that makes all these confusing elements make sense?
The only successes in life are the people who have a focused
objective and are willing to take action!
What does that mean for education? Simply that it is a tool you
use on the way to your goal. With objective and action, you will
get there faster with the right tools, the right sort of
education (be it institutional or self-taught) that pertains to
your objective. But if you don't have an objective, or if you
procrastinate and don't take action, all the education in the
world is no more useful than a shed full of expensive tools
covered in dust. It's not the tool the gets the job done, it's
the using it.
A person with moderate intelligence and no education can still
succeed if they have the 2 key elements of objective and action.
It will just take them longer and take more effort than if they
also had the knowledge tool. But they would still succeed!
So what does that mean for us? Well it doesn't mean abandon
learning, but it does mean reprioritizing your efforts. If you
spend all your day stocking your brain, but there is no focus to
it, you are wasting your time. Stop and pour yourself a cup of
tea and ask yourself what your objective is. What is your
primary goal? Not just any old
sounds-good-when-you-tell-your-spouse kind of goal, but the
objective that stirs you inside and makes you sit on the edge of
your chair in eagerness! If you don't have one, than finding one
needs to be at the TOP of your priority list, your most
important activity, up there with eating and sleeping. You must
find your passion!
Once you have your objective, then you need to figure out how to
get there so you can start taking action TODAY. Don't tell
yourself "oh well, I'll go get another degree or read 20 more
books and call that taking action." Most likely, it is just
another form of procrastination! Figure out what steps you can
do NOW, while you are learning whatever you need.
1. Have an objective, a clear targeted quantifiable laser beam
objective! 2. Take action constantly toward your goal. Don't put
it off until tomorrow, don't come up with reasons why you can't.
Find a way you can and do it NOW!
Once you have these two things engraved on your brain, guiding
all your thoughts and influencing every action you take, then
everything else will fall into place and you will be able to use
the tools you have, see clearly what tools you need, and travel
constantly forward toward success.