Without Application, Knowledge Means Nothing.

It’s one thing to read and like a book, and a completely different thing to apply what you have learnt from the book.

Author: Utuje Bénie

Ignorance is undeniably the enemy of progress. Lucky for us, we have many learning opportunities at our disposal.

• Our experiences provide us with a chance of learning, whether they are good or bad.

• The experiences of others too are very educative. They might seem irrelevant because we don’t encounter the same things, don’t have the same backgrounds, and aren’t created the same way but you never know what life has in store for you.

Learning from others is usually preferable than waiting to first do it wrong and then know what to correct next time.

The fact that some learn and others don’t, shows that learning isn’t automatic or effortless. Not everyone can make a mental note to drink water every morning when they see someone fainting from dehydration on the street.

To acquire knowledge, one should consciously seek to know.

Books are the most easily accessible and well-summarized sources of wisdom. So those who read have one advantage over those who don’t (be careful, reading banal things doesn’t count because we are talking about educating oneself here).

Say that you are among the ones who read. Does it guarantee your success in life since you fought ignorance –the enemy of progress?

I’m a huge fan of reading and one thing that I realized is that you may read many life-altering thoughts (as authors call them) but your life can still stay the same. Why is that?

If ignorance is the enemy of progress, why is it that only few people prosper because of the knowledge obtained from books?

Clearly, the problem isn’t with the books; because if it was, then how come we hear stories of people who’ve greatly benefited from them?

Most people who read, especially motivational books, pride themselves on their exceptional thirst for knowledge. Admittedly, I was one of them before I did a self-examination and discovered that despite my love for books, I rarely, if ever, applied what I read from them.

It’s one thing to read and like a book, and a completely different thing to apply what you have learnt from the book.

The prospect of heeding the given advice or not is very personal. Obsessing over acquiring knowledge is a real thing. You can keep searching for it but fail to use any of it.

This serves as a way of forgiving yourself on the grounds that even though you are not acting on anything, you are at least learning how to.

“Reading texts is no substitute for meditation and practicing them. If you read a book about a place and want to go there, you don’t keep reading the book. You have to travel. That’s what practice is about. Traveling. Walking the path.” ~ Bill Porter

Not practicing the advice from books may imply three things.

• You either didn’t pay attention to what you were reading

• You don’t think that the book concerns you, or

• You are satisfied with just knowing.

The driving force behind reading.

What’s the value of reading? Is it passing time as comfortably possible? Forgetting what you just read is inevitable when you mindlessly leaf through a book only because it was recommended or you have nothing better to do.

The main drive should be ‘improving yourself’, not ‘knowing how people improve themselves’. It is very possible to miss out on the valuable chance of learning when you are too satisfied with your ability and interest in reading.

Always remember that the knowledge you have is nothing unless you use it for your own benefit. Keep in mind what you want to derive from the time spent reading.

Apart from having fun, what else do you want to gain from it? Don’t just read for the sheer pleasure of it. When you are reading for educational purposes –that is to say a non-fiction book- it is necessary to read things related specifically to what you want to learn.

For example if you have health issues, look for books that are health-related. Finally yet importantly, if you’re halfway through a book and realize that it is not meeting your expectations, don’t hesitate to let it go and take another one. Having obtained knowledge from a book, the question that remains is:

Are the learnt lessons applied?

I think the first thing that is needed is willingness to act. If you want something so bad, chances are you’ll get it.

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “The palest ink is more reliable than the most powerful memory”.

After reading something and deciding that it concerns you or you have to do it, jot it down to ensure that you won’t forget it.

Apart from reminding you, if you act contrary to what you wrote, the text will also make it painfully clear to you that you are not working as necessary to improve yourself.

When building a habit, another thing that helps is holding yourself accountable. How about depriving yourself of books until you’ve applied at least one lesson from the last one you read?

Lastly, it would be good to share with others what you got from the books you read. Martin Meadows said it well, “Teaching is a powerful way to make the knowledge you already have in your head become more organized and better internalized”.