“Knowledge is only useful if we act on what we know, so we need to balance the time we spend knowing with the time we spend doing.” - Gerry McGovern
FRANCIS BACON: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
POWER represents a person’s ability to do something or cause something to happen. So Francis Bacon’s “Knowledge is power” alludes to the capabilities and opportunities a person has as a result of what they know.
Knowledge helps you to know what to do and how you must do it. However if you have knowledge and you don’t apply it, then it’s of no use. The power of knowledge is only realised when it is released.
Former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice remarked that, “Power is nothing without influence.” For knowledge to be truly meaningful and useful, it has to be released. Don’t ignore Gerry McGovern’s advice: “Knowledge is only useful if we act on what we know, so we need to balance the time we spend knowing with the time we spend doing.”
KNOWLEDGE APPLICATION
THE effect of knowledge is in its application. As a therapist, I have noticed that the problem of many people seeking help is not ignorance of what to do but the will to act on what they know.
Knowledge without practice is deception. Knowing something doesn’t necessarily make you better than the person who doesn’t know. If you can read the inscription cigarette smoking can be harmful to your health on a packet of cigarette and still smoke, then the ability to read makes no difference. You are just like the person who can’t read that warning.
Consistent practice retains knowledge. The more you do something, the stronger your conviction becomes. The stronger your conviction, the harder it sticks. If you keep what you know in cold storage, it would freeze and might lose it utility.
Knowledge benefits those who use it. Knowledge only becomes beneficial if it is applied to relevant situations. People who succeed in life are not extraordinary. They are ordinary people who act upon what they know. You don’t have to know everything to do something significant. You can start with the little you know while you continue to learn more.
SHINE YOUR LIGHT
19TH CENTURY journalist Margaret Fuller hit the nail right on the head when she said, “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles by it.”
Consider everything you have: Clothes, toothbrush, cologne, shoes, plates, cutlery, etc. Each of those items is a product of someone’s knowledge or ideas. Internet, electric bulb and pencil are all in existence because people put their knowledge into action and placed it at the disposal of the world.
If the Wright brothers had not released their knowledge, there probably would be no air planes today. If Alex Bell had not harnessed his knowledge, the telephone might never have been in existence. The diligent work of Thomas Edison ushered in the modern age of electricity. What if he had not done it? All the people we celebrate are those who put into practice what they knew. Whether its intellectual capital, significant experience or conviction, we have to deploy what we know.
SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE
COACH Joby Harris taught Zig Ziglar that, “if you have ability that goes beyond providing for your own needs, you have a responsibility to use that ability to reach down and help those who do not have that capacity.” Whatever we have is for the enhancement of society and society begins with the person next to you – the sales person at the grocery store, the bus conductor, the medical personnel at the community health centre, your brother or sister, your spouse or your classmate.
I think that each of us should determine that whenever we interact with people, we shall leave them with something they can remember. That is how we can build strong communities, companies and countries. When we do that we shall all reap the dividends that spring forth.
© 2012 Terry Mante
PEDNET
Accra, Ghana
