Knowledge : How Do You Turn It To Power?

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge [Hosea 4:6]

YOU probably have heard it said before: knowledge is power. Taken literally, that should mean that once you know what you didn’t know before, you’ll be automatically empowered by your newly acquired knowledge. True, right? Think again!

Consider this example. Let’s assume you didn’t know that the house you slept in the previous night had electricity, so you slept in darkness. The next morning, while discussing with a neighbour, you mentioned the fact that you had to sleep in darkness because the house had no electricity.

The neighbour pointed out to you that there was electricity in the house and went on to show you where the switch was and then put it on just to prove to you that he’s telling you the truth. At that point, you’ve acquired knowledge. The previous night, you didn’t know the house had electricity. Now, you’ve that knowledge.

Great. Come night time, despite the fact that you know that the house has electricity and in spite of the fact that you know where the switch to turn in on is, you refuse to put on the light. What would happen? You’ll still sleep in darkness.

Now, has the knowledge that you acquired earlier about the fact that there was light in that house empowered you not to sleep in darkness for the second night in a row? Of course it did not.

Until you make use of the knowledge –– the information you have –– what you know, which is called knowledge, has no power within itself to empower you.

And this is the greatest challenge being faced by most seekers of success and financial breakthrough. You see them everywhere you turn. They are quick to attend seminars. They find it easy to buy self-improvement information products.

They will go through all the hoops to acquire knowledge, no matter what it may cost them to do so. But when it comes to applying the knowledge they paid through the nose to acquire, they get distracted. They succumb to procrastination. They give in to other issues that will clearly prevent them from reaching their goals.

What should you do to protect yourself from this destiny destroying behaviour?

Listen to this story told by one of my protégés, Efe Imiren, a graduate of my April 2008 Information Marketing Business Workshop [IMBW]. Addressing the April 2009 IMBW Class recently, Efe said the night before Monday when the course was about to take off, her mother came into her room to tell her that they had lost a relation and that they had to travel home for the burial.

Just two weeks earlier, she narrated, they had just returned from home where they had buried her father. And now that she had this opportunity to attend a course that she had every reason to believe would transform her life, she was being told to get ready to travel home again.

Instead of caving in to that demand, Efe stayed away from home and turned her office into her residence for the one-week duration of the course as well as switched off her mobile phone so that no one could reach her or distract her.

And for two weeks after the workshop, she was still sleeping on the bare floor of her office, taking ordinary bread for breakfast and drinking garri in the night, working hard at creating her first information product which eventually launched her career.

The result? A year later, her information marketing business had taken off in grand style. Now, from not knowing what she would do to raise her siblings and make a headway in life one short year ago, she’s now comfortably shouldering the responsibility and growing her business steadily.

Just think for a moment. Suppose she went home to bury the relation instead of doing the course? Definitely she would have missed the course and she would never have had the opportunity of acquiring the information that she translated into her high income producing venture. By simply taking action on what she learnt, she moved from zero to a heroine.

Ouch! I’ve just let the secret out of the bag! Taking action on what you know; actually doing it, that’s what transforms knowledge into power! That’s what brings the result you’re craving for.

If you know what to do and you’re not doing it; if you’re not acting on the knowledge you saved in the hard drive of your brain, it’s a waste of time hoping to be successful.

It just won’t happen!

PS: Do you want to comment on this article? You can do so  here