It’s one thing to know a lot – to read, to learn, to have life experiences, but it’s everything to turn that knowledge into getting the things done that matter. Being smart is not so smart if you don’t use that knowledge to take the action to create the life you want.
For 12 years, several times a year, I attended sales and leadership training – often with the same leaders from the real estate industry. We shared the same training experience, the books we purchased were the same and the methods we used and the market conditions were the same in our offices. Despite this similar knowledge there were vastly different results and profits across the offices. The winning teams took action on what they learnt at training. The mediocre teams would make comments like “I know what I should be doing but I don’t have time” or “I’ve heard it all before”. Those with a growth mindset and a bias for action understand that to create a fulfilled life we need to be aware of what we know, but we also need to apply what we know. Action is how we progress through knowledge.
Without specific action the benefit from training might be a short burst of inspiration for a day or two or maybe a week. Smart individuals and teams continuously train, update, refresh and move forward implementing what they know to create excellent outcomes.
But what bridges the gap between knowledge and action? Tony Robbins sums it up well, “A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.”
I’ve met enough struggling and unfulfilled smart people to know that just knowing is NOT smart enough. It’s about getting going with the knowing – making a decision to get the things done that matter.
That’s where the real smart is!
