Post Written by Dan Kennedy

One of the silliest of all ‘reasons’ people have for un-plugging themselves from different sources of information and ideas is that what they’re reading or hearing is repetitive.

And one of the greatest lies of all time, taught as success gospel, is that “knowledge is power.”   It most certainly is not.  Some of the smartest, most educated, most academically credentialed people I’ve ever met are poor as church mouses, miserable, even bitter and resentful of the greater success of those “less qualified.”  Why doesn’t their superior knowledge actually equate to power or wealth?  Because rewards aren’t paid out for what you know. Rewards are earned by what you do. And it is common for people who know a lot less but do a lot more with what they do know to employ a lot of people who know a lot more but do a lot less.

Actually, most people know a lot. If you’ve ever met a fat doctor who smokes, it’s not because he never got the memo, or missed class the day they revealed that obesity and smoking kill you. He knows.  He just doesn’t act in accordance with his knowledge.

When you consider your continuing association with a person, an organization, a coaching program, a mastermind group, or a publication, or even a radio or TV program, you should evaluate it by many factors – not just one. You should consider  the inspirational value, not just the educational value. Does it prod you to do?  It is true that motivation without the foundations of knowledge, information and competence leads only to frustration. A highly motivated fellow with a golf swing absent good mechanics, that resembles a rusty barn door in a tornado, will never be pleased with his golf score, and getting more motivated won’t help. But all the knowledge in the world without sufficient motivation to boldly act on it, to implement it, to insist on its application, is valueless as well. The goal is not just knowledge; it is applied knowledge.  People very often fail despite making themselves huge repositories of knowledge. People rarely fail due to the habit of taking action on knowledge.

Repeated exposure to important ideas, information, inspirational examples and many applications of it all is pretty much necessary. The conscious mind stands as sentry to the much more powerful subconscious, turning away all input contrary to the already stored beliefs. It takes repeated exposure to the new, different or challenging to wear down the guards’ resistance. You may very well recognize that you’ve heard ‘it’ before. You may even technically know ‘it’.  But if you aren’t yet acting on ‘it’, then you need to keep having ‘it’ placed in front of you again and again and again. 

The lust for the “new” is not our most productive attribute. We are all easily bored with the familiar, easily seduced by the new – but successful people focus on implementation of the best. Gaining ever-deeper and more certain knowledge of what works is more useful than broad, superficial knowledge of many things or, worse, of flitting about endlessly and never building anything solid.

The WHY PEOPLE FAIL articles are provided by Dan S. Kennedy, serial entrepreneur, from-scratch multi-millionaire, speaker, consultant, coach, author of 13 books including the No B.S. series (www.NoBSBooks.com), and editor of The No B.S. Marketing Letter. WE HAVE ARRANGED A SPECIAL FREE GIFT FROM DAN FOR YOU including a 2-Month Free Membership in Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle, newsletters, audio CD’s and more: for information and to register, visit: http://www.freegiftfrom.com/robminton


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