I don’t think there’s ever been a time in human history when men and women, young and old alike, were in such a great search for knowledge spanning spirituality and faith, career and relationships, psychology and philosophy, politics, power, and governance, to mention a few.
The evidence of this search is the overwhelming number of questions being asked, many of which have not been voiced but remain seated deep in people’s hearts.
As a result, people ask questions, and among those who do, there will always be two kinds: those who ask because they truly want to cure their ignorance, and the many who ask only to show that they already know, which is seldom correct.
As I wrote in my book, I recommend you become the former—the one who asks to know because their life and destiny depend on it.
The progression of the knowledge economy lies at the root of this quest for knowledge. The knowledge economy is an economic system where wealth creation, growth, and competitive advantage for individuals and nation-states depend on the generation and use of knowledge rather than on the conventional factors of land, labor, physical capital, and entrepreneurship (which itself has been redefined).
Because of this, we increasingly see people buying books, attending conferences, and engaging in many other activities in search of knowledge. While this is good, many pursue it without understanding “the burden of knowledge.”
After twelve weeks of intensive training and transformation in the “About the Future” virtual program, I held a supplementary class for the participants where I taught them about the burden of knowledge.
What they now know can either change their lives for good or do the opposite.
You see, knowledge has a measurable weight—though not one measured in grams. Like every other form of power, possessing it does not make an individual powerful; it is wielding it that does.
This is why we can identify a weak man by how he wields power and, in this case, how he wields the knowledge he has gained.
An individual ignorant of this burden of knowledge, or not empowered to wield it rightly, will be frustrated by it and may eventually give up, which is the very opposite of success.
Knowledge, by its very nature, seeks expression. This is why, the moment you learn something, you are likely to share it—often without fully understanding or applying it to produce the results connected to that knowledge. The knack to share is one of those things you must overcome!
Every result is connected to knowledge, but knowledge alone does not produce results. Knowledge is raw material; it must be refined into what inspires the actions or combination of actions that create the expected result(s)
As the creator economy booms, you, who are on the path of continuous learning and personal development, will be tempted to write and share what you know or are learning.
While that may earn you some accolades in the form of impressions and reactions, your life will most likely remain empty of the results such knowledge should bring.
Therefore, it is not enough to read books or display how much you know. What you know must be translated into results—either visible or invisible—but manifested in the shifting of your thoughts from what was to what now is, prompting others to seek what has changed in you.
In your pursuit of knowledge, you must be guided, lest you end up accumulating much but gaining little from it. This is where Paul the Apostle described knowledge as that which “puffs up.”
Your pursuit of knowledge must be systematic and methodical.
For example, there’s a skill I need for my research. It’s something I could learn on YouTube. Instead, I paid for a course on Udemy taught by an associate professor who created a 50-hour course on the subject.
Now I will learn and master this skill because my learning is structured and specific. While YouTube may serve, it would take me months of trial and error, leaving me with the correct pieces of the puzzle but no knowledge of how to combine them to solve it.
This is why knowledge in the public domain can take you only so far. As you grow, prioritize buying access to privileged information