Confessions of an information junkie
Who is the information junkie I am referring to in this title? Well, it’s me, but I bet it’s you too!
Logical thinkers often put themselves into this category. We love information! We love knowing things, we love learning things, we love figuring things out. I am with you – it’s probably my favorite thing to. I’m not going to say that’s a bad thing at all! However, there is something to watch out for, when you are an information junkie, that can be an obstacle to actually seeing improvement in your life.
This obstacle is being more concerned with HAVING information than USING information. This is the difference between POTENTIAL energy and KINETIC energy. Potential energy is unrealized! Its definition is “having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.” Notice that the definition did not say “developing into something,” it said “the capacity to develop into something.”
When something has the capability to have an effect, it is potential energy, but when it is having an effect, it is kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is about what is actually occurring and not what could occur.
Potential energy does give us the option to have kinetic energy though, and the same is true with information. Gathering information and learning is essential in experiencing change in your life, but it is not the last step. Knowing does not mean understanding. Implementing information brings true understanding. This is why you don’t just get credit for attending a lecture in school; you have to solve the problems too. A child does not watch people walk and then get up and do it flawlessly themselves.
My message to you today is to encourage you to take what you have learned about reaching the goals you have and IMPLEMENT that strategy, work with those ideas. Logical thinkers want to be good at something right when we learn it, but that is not how learning works. Experience with the information is what turns it into wisdom and allows it to make a difference in your life and the lives of those you love.
If you have noticed these tendencies in yourself, give yourself an advantage and start putting things into practice so you can benefit from the many things you have learned!