Life Training: Who are the Best Inquisitive Readers?

A renowned visionary once said, "Treasure trove can be found in books alone than an entire pirates loot bin on Treasure Island, and the best part is you can enjoy these riches throughout your life."

There are times that despite all the efforts they have given, some people just don't learn.

After several years of teaching, answers from test exams were compiled by the teacher. They are as follows:

The Magna Carta provided that no free man should be hanged twice for the same offense.

Martin Luther was nailed to the church door at Wittenberg for selling papal indulgences. He died a horrible death being excommunicated by a bull.

William Shakespeare wrote tragedies, comedies, and hysterectomies, all in Islamic Pentameter.

Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100-foot clipper.

Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin he built with his own hands. He wrote the Gettysburg address while traveling from Washington to Gettysburg on the back of an envelope."

Sometimes, people hear the right words but obviously, did not learn from them.

Life is a continuous process of learning. And it applies to the principle of understanding that learning does not stop the moment you went out of the four walls of the classroom. The more we crave to learn new things, the picture of profound success painted before us gets clearer.

I believe that Information and Knowledge are necessities and like the mortar and pestle, they must go hand in hand.

I've heard it said that if you take all the money from your pockets, and use it to fill you mind, then, what is in your mind will, someday, also fill your pockets. Education is an investment and will someday repay you a hundred fold. You may add value to your worth as an individual by getting an education.

Essentially, there are three basic types of knowledge. Fist one is, Acquired Knowledge.

As the name denotes, this type of knowledge is acquired through books, tapes, and other sources. I read the other day that the ratio of doughnuts to books which an average person buys in their lifetime is 2000 is to 2.

The great Jim Rohn says, “You need food for thought ...Bread for your brains!  Read ... Educate yourself!”

Malcolm Forbes said that, “Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.”

The great and all wise leader Groucho Marx even said, “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”

Oprah said this, “Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.”

Listen up. Leaders are readers! And they are supplementing life training by reading.

Try to make it a habit to carry a book when going out. Feed your mind while waiting in line, while eating lunch, or while waiting for time to pass by. A man who doesn't read is no better off than an illiterate.

The second type of knowledge is the Activity Knowledge.

Aristotle said that, “What we need to learn we learn by doing.”  Read to learn and put to action what you have learned.

Knowledge is not power. Rather, it is applied knowledge that is power in action. It has been said that the mind is like a rubber band which serves its purpose only when it is stretched. You are stretching your mind the moment you force it to put into action all the information that you have fed it. It is like a muscle that needs to be flexed and stimulated in order to grow.

It seemed amazing to me that you can now send a message 24, 000 miles around the world in less than a second. But it often takes years to penetrate that last 1/4 inch of skull surrounding every person's mind. This simple yet powerful principle still confounds countless people. Accomplishments are the direct results for your dedication. You learn by doing.

Theory is nothing but a piece of knowledge which needs to be acted upon for it to gain experience. An example is when you are reading on how to ride a bicycle; it will take you hours to learn how to do it by simply looking at the graphs, illustrations and reading instructions. But when you have the bicycle with you, it will only take you about ten minutes to ride and it and make it work. Classroom knowledge is only beneficial if it translates into activity knowledge.

And the third type of knowledge is Association Knowledge.

Learn the power behind association. Associate with people who make money you want to make and learn from their advice. Go with winners, not whiners. Hang with “studs not duds” or in the case of you ladies “Studdets not duddetts!”

This concept is like what the great philosopher Erma Bombeck once said, “Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.”

How can you trust him with your life if he cannot even save the plants? Are you going to ask for a medical advice from a 499 pound man who is a chain smoker, and boozer? I bet you won't. I've gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, but look, why do we go and listen to people who have no direction in their lives and have them direct ours? They cannot even manage their own, but why do we still trust them? You can never sharpen a razor on a piece of velvet.

Learn from Leaders. Be inspired by them. If you want to lead, then read.