I read an article written by Michael Simmons, published in medium.com, October 12, 2017, with the title, "5-Hour Rule: If you’re not spending 5 hours per week learning, you’re being irresponsible."
The opening quote was by Charlie Munger, Self-made billionaire and Warren Buffet's long-time business partner. It says, "In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none. Zero."
I ask if reading is the same as learning because we can read just to get informed about a specific subject. Yes, we can learn something about it, but unless we engage with the content, we may not achieve anything worthwhile. The question is, “Is learning really about reading or just limited to reading?" Please, endure with me and together, let’s find out a few things.
I ask because I do know that people can know or can get informed about specific concepts or subjects apart from reading about them. We can learn well about a subject through use than from merely pushing information down into ourselves by going through pages of writing material.
Change in behaviour is the hallmark of learning. Everyone learns one way or the other, but not everyone can read. Oral traditions are passed down through generations without writing. Cultures are formed by practice without writing or reading. Yet, generations learned those cultures and impacted others through them.
Yes, we get exposed to new information when we read new material, but unless we engage with such material or content, it would just fizzle out of us the same way it came. It's like water poured into a basket. Basket cannot retain water.
James Altucher said the same thing about books that he has read. He claims that he often cannot recall much information about what he has read. But, if we understand how the memory works, we know that such pieces of information are lodged somewhere in the memory, and they rear their heads at inopportune moments when we don't even solicit them.
For the formally educated, reading is only an access to learning. It's the beginning of the process of learning. If learning is about reading, does it mean that those who cannot read are not learning? Leaving learning at the doorstep of reading seems to me a limited and restricted use of the intellect.
Learning is not all about reading. If we read a written material and we are intrigued by the idea, we may want to do more with it.
We can proceed to studying the material. We can make notes. We can begin to meditate on the content. Then we are engaging with the content. We can then decide we need to manifest that idea.
We already have spotted beneficiaries of the idea in our minds and we can start the process of implementation through resource gathering and more.
When we eventually implement this idea and people benefit from it, change happens in their lives. There is a shift on both sides of the divide. There is empowerment. That is when we can say that learning has taken place. It's not enough to just read. It's more to read and apply the information. That is a process.
Understanding is earned with the art of doing. This is in the realm of application of what we know through reading, studying, writing and implementation. With implementation we earn by doing. When we do, we stand the chance to make change happen. People become accredited and improvement can happen.
Wisdom is not earned through reading. Wisdom is understanding, perception, and discernment. It is a combination of gifting and use through adversity. Wisdom is earned through application of information. Wisdom is earned through obedience to the doctrine of Life and its Author. This obedience is the fear from where wisdom begins.
This is the real idea behind learning. At the core of learning is innovation. It begins with being exposed to information, which is tantamount to having an idea. Building on the idea to bloom means innovation. It may not necessarily be a physical product, but something has been birthed. This is learning because change has happened in the space.
When you have become used to using information this way, your thought process is different; your mindset operates in the place of genius. Every other information you get exposed to is thought of and processed differently from the way the average mind would.
You always seek to find connections with similar or earlier thoughts and information you had encountered. You engage with thoughts in a different way. This makes you a lifelong learner and thought leader in a specific area or array of areas.
A friend shared a video with me on the question of development in Africa. Africa cannot be great just by exporting raw materials. Africa can be truly great if it decides to process its raw materials and have finished products for its large population. The raw materials that Africa exports are processed into finished goods and returned to Africans. The speaker ends it with a subtle charge to African entrepreneurs to think processing raw materials into finished products.
My friend decided she was going to go into chocolate production from our abundant cocoa resource. She did not have to read to earn that information. Yet, she engaged with the content. It was a video she saw. She did not have to read, but she was able to process what she heard.
This is how faith happens: through hearing. Faith is revelation. Something happened because someone heard something and heard it through and in the heart. That's resonance. Now, if it's in your heart, it will find its way to your lips, and it will reflect in your actions.
Reading is good; but reading can be made great when we act on the information we read. Those who have the opportunity of formal education should use it as a strength and play to their strength. Those who do not, can yet engage with information through other medium and make change happen in their space through application.
The essential key to learning is to engage with content through whatever medium and apply it so that people in the space can feel the impact because it has caused a shift or change. That is when learning happens.
