“Wisdom is intensely practical, not theoretical… wisdom is the art of being successful, of forming the correct plan to gain the desired results” — J.D. Douglas
With this definition (and bringing to bear what I’ve learned in my life so far), here are three steps to obtaining more wisdom… and more success in your life:
- Being humble means being teachable, and in order to acquire knowledge we need to be receptive to learning opportunities. That means listening intently when someone speaks to you, and following up with questions that will extract the information they have and the information you want. In Stephen Covey’s best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the fifth habit is to “Seek First to Understand, then be Understood”. When someone feels understood and interesting, the flow of information becomes that much greater.
- In this day and age of the Internet and instant global communications, we already have enough information to solve a problem. Often we have too much information at our discretion. Asserts Dallin H. Oaks, former justice of the Utah Supreme Court:
“Because of modern technology, the contents of huge libraries and other data resources are at the fingertips of many of us. Some choose to spend countless hours in unfocused surfing the Internet, watching trivial television, or scanning other avalanches of information. But to what purpose? Those who engage in such activities are like the two partners in my story, hurrying to and fro, hauling more and more but failing to grasp the essential truth that we cannot make a profit from our efforts until we understand the true value of what is already within our grasp.” [source]
We need to set aside time for personal introspection and pondering - to assimilate all the information we’ve already received and validate it as knowledge, and apply that knowledge into action for success.
- With so much information and distraction in our lives, establishing priorities, setting goals and applying the unrelenting mental focus of Professor X is necessary, if we want to cut through the clutter and make the best use of our time. As the saying goes, “Three things never come back—the spent arrow, the spoken word, and the lost opportunity.”
STORY HERE