I Know, I Know, I Know!

I have to admit, on some level it's actually funny!

If you've ever been in this situation (and I would guess you have), you probably didn't find it so humorous. And still here I was laughing at myself!

I would have to believe that I'm probably right when I say that there are things in your life that you could be doing which would have a significant impact for the better, and yet you're not doing them.

Am I right?

I'll go first! I can, at times be the "king of (I hate the word procrastination, so let's use...) avoidance. I know, and I know that I know, there are things that I need to get done and yet I can always find something more important to be doing. Gotta eat, gotta sleep, gotta run, gotta clean off that desk, gotta, gotta, gotta. Most of that stuff is going to happen whether I do what's really important first or not. So why do I put everything else on the list in front of what I should be doing? Why does it seem to be so difficult to get myself to go after what I really want?

Does this sound familiar to you at all?

Are there at least times when you avoid doing the things that will have the most impact on your life? I mean if you're really honest, doesn't this ever happen to you?

Let's step back for a second and look at why this is so very important to each and every one of us. Let's look at what I call the difference between knowledge and wisdom.

What is the difference? At first glance, they are two very similar words aren't they? Look again. Let me ask you this; where does knowledge come from?

Doesn't it come from the books and Cd's and seminars you involve your self with. Maybe from a class you take at the local school or even at your local health club. Knowledge to me is having an understanding of the concepts, ideas and processes involved in a particular subject.

Let me ask you another question; has a book ever run a marathon?

Not a chance! Don't get me wrong... a book about running marathons can be extremely valuable in helping you to prepare to run a marathon. There are millions of great books on literally any subject you can imagine, all of which will give you very positive information... knowledge you can use.

But... and this is a big one; until you add the key ingredient which I believe is the essential difference between knowledge and wisdom, you really have nothing more than words. That missing element is... ACTION!

You see, if you read every available book out there on running a marathon. How to prepare, how to train, what shoes to wear, where to run, proper form, what to eat... all of those things and yet never set foot outside your house until marathon day; you would fail miserably.

You simply have got to take action.

When you take knowledge and apply action to it, you get experience. What is experience? Experience is the foundation of wisdom.

If you had taken the knowledge you gained from the books you read and applied it, on the road, so to speak, you would know how it works for you. You would understand which methods work best for you and what diet is going to get you results and which shoes cause you pain and which ones fit just right. And at this point, you would have a level of wisdom as to how you should go about preparing for and running a marathon. You would have wisdom about how to get it done!

Not everyone may be interested in running a marathon so let's look at an example we can all relate to.

Remember when you were a child growing up and one of your parents told you not to touch a hot burner on the stove because you will get burned? What did you get when they told you that? Knowledge. What did you get when you actually touched the hot burner? That's right... you got an experience that turned the knowledge into wisdom... I mean I assume you did. Now if you went back three and four times to make sure... that's a whole different topic. What you did is take the knowledge you'd been given, applied your own action, received your own experience and hopefully the result was wisdom. And quite possibly (hopefully) you also learned that on occasion, when your parents impart you with knowledge, they were trying to help you avoid a painful experience!

If action is the key ingredient, then why don't we all do the things we know would be the best for us?

Fear? Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of pain, fear of embarrassment, fear of the unknown.

Let me ask you something; what is failure?

Isn't failure just another method of figuring out how to do something? Look at it. If you try something and it doesn't work, what do you have? Don't you have a method that you know you don't have to try again? That means you can move on to the next one and test it out! It gives you the opportunity to try out new methods and expand yourself. I've always said, I don't have failures, I have life lessons, because that's what they really are! At least as long as I learn from them they are lessons.

What this allows me to do is get really excited every time I want to do something new in my life because I know that I have the opportunity to accomplish great things and at least learn some new things.

Here's a simple rule I learned a long time ago and I still have to remind my self, as I confessed earlier;

As soon as you decide you want a particular result in your life, immediately and I mean right on the spot, take the first step in that direction. It doesn't have to be a giant step, but it has to be in the direction of your goal or target.

Take ACTION!

Many years ago, I decided that I wanted to do more reading. Like most of us, I didn't see how I possibly could because I was always in hurry and didn't have enough time. It was suggested to me that I commit to read just twenty minutes a day. Twenty minutes a day for an average reader would work out to about one new book a month or twelve new books a year. Pretty cool! Then I discovered the real power behind this idea. I never read for twenty minutes. As soon as I started reading, I'd get mentally and emotionally involved and sometimes an hour, sometimes five hours later I'd still be reading. Needless to say I have read literally thousands of books over those years since I adopted that twenty minutes a day philosophy and I love it!

If it works for books, it works for everything else!

Want to start exercising? Commit to fifteen or twenty minutes a day. Come on, you've got that amount of time somewhere in your day! I'm not going to tell you to give up television. I don't have to, it will happen naturally once you create your new and empowering habit.

Stop knowing and start doing. The rewards are incredible! But don't take my knowledge on the topic... create your own wisdom with action.