Knowledge
So you have a steady flow of information. But information isn’t enough.
Knowledge is now your target.
New knowledge is what you need to stay ahead of the curve. But how will you turn the information into knowledge?
By asking questions to gain insight. Ask yourself what it is you want to learn and then go out and attain the correct knowledge.
When I was about seven or eight years old, my father would tell me to look words up in the dictionary. The problem was I was such a bad speller I didn’t know where to look. Very frustrating indeed.
This knowledge process is a bit like that. If you don’t know what you don’t know, how are you going to ask a question about it? What information are you going to access?
It’s not as tough as it seems.
When most people read, or listen to a speaker at a conference, they’re gathering information. Recording facts, figures, war stories, that sort of thing. They typically lack focus; they don’t have a goal for the reading or the listening.
To create new knowledge you have to do something else – you have to deliberately identify the areas you are interested in – your areas of concern.
Use your concern as a way to focus. Express the concern to yourself and it becomes a lightning rod for insight and knowledge.
As you read or listen, watch TV or surf the web, or have conversations, the concern operates in the background – searching and sifting – making relevant connections, new distinctions, and finally insight.
If you define your outcome in concrete terms, your mind will give you the solution.
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