KNOWLEDGE IS THE LIFE BEAUTIFUL!

CONVERT INFORMATION INTO KNOWLEDGE

LIVE THE LIFE BEAUTIFUL!

Recently in a class where I was sitting as a Co-coordinator, the lecturer posed a question:

“What is the difference between Information and knowledge?”

Even as I was wondering what could be the best answer and anticipating as many answers as the participants were in the class, a lady replied,

“Knowledge is practical application of information.”

Just repeat this: Knowledge is practical application of information.

Learned people may find fault with this statement. But see the power of it.

The world is full of enough information. Nearly all of it is freely available to all of us. But often we fail to practically apply it.

Let us just start from smaller things to bigger things:

All of us know the basic information about keeping good health (balanced diet, exercise, positive attitude, etc.), we also know the basic information for being successful (definite goal, persistence, planning, etc.), and we also know how to be happy (be near nature, love your family and friends, be positive and cheerful, etc.), but we miserably fail to apply these in our life.

All the information regarding people and basic emotions and places is known. However, some are able to convert this information into great works of fiction and non-fiction, while others just read them, and get even more information, never being able to write a page.
Quite a lot of information about natural laws is available. Working on that great scientists and scholars discover and invent great new things. With the help of technology they make new things.
Criminal Code and Law books mention penalties for all sorts of crimes. Yet this information does not deter many of us to commit crimes! This is a negative type of application!
All the tenets of good and moral behaviour are there in the great religious books. Just following them we could make this earth a paradise. But we not only fail to apply these in our life, but often we misinterpret them and fight with and kill each other.

This list can be expanded indefinitely. But the central point is clear:

Knowledge is practical application of information.

I am not for a moment saying that this practical application is always simple and easy. Discovering the riddles of life and universe or making a space ship out of the available knowledge is not for everybody. Many of them may lack even sufficient information.

But in many spheres of life we do know all the information. Yet it is precisely in these spheres that we fail miserably. These are: Inter-personal relations, being happy, healthy, and successful, controlling our emotions and violent and criminal acts, avoiding harmful substances and drugs, etc.

If I may say it differently, I would assert:

In the sea of information, we are thirsty of knowledge

LIVE THE LIFE BEAUTIFUL!

SECRETS OF GREATNESS

LIVE THE LIFE BEAUTIFUL!

Fortune magazine has titled its October 30, 2006 issue as the Excellence Issue. It explores the Secrets of Greatness.

The conclusion of its article ‘What It Takes To Be Great’ is that the lack of natural talent is irrelevant to great success. Painful and demanding practice and hard work is the secret to success.

Greatness is achieved through demanding and painful hard work over many years. Most accomplished people need around ten years of hard work for becoming world class. Greatness in any field requires constant ‘deliberate practice’.

Talent has little or nothing to do with greatness. Excellence is not a consequence of possessing innate gift.

Even if you possess some natural gift, high-level performance is not possible without experience or practice. Many prodigies don’t achieve greatness.

Motivation is the key to constant hard work and practice.

In another article, ‘12 Peak Performances’, it talked to twelve successful people - a global trader, drill instructor, test driver, gambler, scientist, pro athlete, rock musician, security expert, movie star, venture capitalist, chief executive and concessionaire.

Some of the conclusions derived from the discussions are :-

1. Practice makes perfect. This is the explicit or implicit refrain of practically all the 12 persons interviewed.

2. Have obsessive quest for self improvement and staying focused.

3. You can not get locked into a mindset. A lot ­of people just keep adding to a bad position.

4. A failed experiment is actually rich source of information. People tend to focus on positive results, but people who are successful are often those who also learn from the negative.

5. Stress yourself out. You can not go out and expect to do well when the pressure is on if you don’t put the pressure on yourself in practice, in the off-season, or when nobody else is there.

6. Be obsessive over the data especially analyze data relating to your practice, experiment, experience or business.

But…

7. If you spend too much time analyzing reams of data, you become paralyzed and never make interesting decisions.

8. Buckle up for a wild ride if your job demands it.

9. Embrace ambiguity.

10. Think more.

LIVE THE LIFE BEAUTIFUL!