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***This is a post from my blog today. Website link is absent out of respect for the forum. If you read it please take the time to let me know your thoughts on it. I write these because I believe they provide value. If they aren't doing that I would like to know. Also if you spot any grammatical errors please let me know. ***
I was told something really stupid the other day. I make it a habit of mine to learn and seek opportunity from every project or job I am engaged in. A habit I would encourage all of you to start. I worked at a grocery store during this time. How could I learn something or find opportunity at a grocery store? Well, after some thought I realized I worked at a grocery store. EVERYONE needs food and just about everyone gets this food from grocery stores. I was surrounded by knowledge and opportunities. So I made it a point to talk with every person I could. This paid me back ten fold. I received plenty of job opportunities and met many businessman.
Now back to the stupid thing I was told. Obviously I talked to many people. And obviously not all the advice I received from people was good. One day upon talking to a car salesman I asked him how often he read. He told me he didn't read. I think he said something along the lines of “Once you’ve been doing this as long as I have you learn pretty much everything”.
I quickly ended the conversation and moved on.
If someone tells me they don't read that's about all I need to hear. If you are giving me “advice” and at any point in that conversation I hear you don't read I will probably stop talking to you because it's a waste of my time. It says a lot more about you than you think.
The car salesman was a good car salesman. He had been doing it for around 20 years. But he wasn't a great car salesman and he never would be because he didn't read or learn more. I was reading something a while ago that said if you read a hour a day in your chosen field you would become an international expert in 7 years. Let's assume that's true. And let's also pretend I became a car salesman at that dealership.
On average I read a book a day. There have been days where I read all day, all night and then went to work early that morning. So for the sake of my point, let's just assume my average reading time a day is 7 hours. Well, one hour a day for 7 years to be a expert huh? So then what does 7 hours a day for 1 year get me? I’ll let you think on that.
So like I said earlier, let’s pretend I work at that dealership. If I am reading books relevant to that field 7 hours a day, and then I go to work 40 hours a week. How long do you think it would take me to pass his sales? And if he is the number one salesman, how long do you think it would take me to become the number one salesman?
Honestly, not very long.
That car salesman made a very serious lapse in judgment. He arrogantly assumed he knew everything relevant to his field because he had been doing it about 20 years. At that point he is content. That is when someone who isn't content, comes and knocks him on his a$$. But the issue of being content is a topic for another post.
Information and knowledge is always changing. Let's pretend a doctor by some miracle managed to learn EVERY man known thing about medicine. You think in a year he is still going to know everything unless he keeps learning it? Hell no. Don't ever assume you know everything. That is one of the worst things you can do.
Warren Buffett spends 80% of his day reading and thinking. In fact, he attributes reading as one of the main reasons for his success. Its no surprise that the top earners read more. I am not the smartest, the fastest or the strongest. But you better damn well believe I will be the most knowledgeable in my area of competence. And if I am not I will work everyday with that goal in mind. It's all a knowledge game. I would rather take someone more knowledgeable over someone smarter any day of the week.
There is more to reading than just being better than someone else though. It's about being better than who you were before you started reading that book. Through reading I have learned from the greatest minds in history. I become more self aware. My perceptions and understanding have increased ten fold. In one year of seriously reading I have learned more than I ever did in public education. Reading starts thoughts in your mind and it makes you think about things you would never think about had you not read that book.
If you don't read it tells me you’re just a waste of my time. Mediocre people do mediocre things. If you don't read you are mediocre. I don't surround myself with mediocre people and neither should you.
Until next time,
-toughroadbusinessman
I was told something really stupid the other day. I make it a habit of mine to learn and seek opportunity from every project or job I am engaged in. A habit I would encourage all of you to start. I worked at a grocery store during this time. How could I learn something or find opportunity at a grocery store? Well, after some thought I realized I worked at a grocery store. EVERYONE needs food and just about everyone gets this food from grocery stores. I was surrounded by knowledge and opportunities. So I made it a point to talk with every person I could. This paid me back ten fold. I received plenty of job opportunities and met many businessman.
Now back to the stupid thing I was told. Obviously I talked to many people. And obviously not all the advice I received from people was good. One day upon talking to a car salesman I asked him how often he read. He told me he didn't read. I think he said something along the lines of “Once you’ve been doing this as long as I have you learn pretty much everything”.
I quickly ended the conversation and moved on.
If someone tells me they don't read that's about all I need to hear. If you are giving me “advice” and at any point in that conversation I hear you don't read I will probably stop talking to you because it's a waste of my time. It says a lot more about you than you think.
The car salesman was a good car salesman. He had been doing it for around 20 years. But he wasn't a great car salesman and he never would be because he didn't read or learn more. I was reading something a while ago that said if you read a hour a day in your chosen field you would become an international expert in 7 years. Let's assume that's true. And let's also pretend I became a car salesman at that dealership.
On average I read a book a day. There have been days where I read all day, all night and then went to work early that morning. So for the sake of my point, let's just assume my average reading time a day is 7 hours. Well, one hour a day for 7 years to be a expert huh? So then what does 7 hours a day for 1 year get me? I’ll let you think on that.
So like I said earlier, let’s pretend I work at that dealership. If I am reading books relevant to that field 7 hours a day, and then I go to work 40 hours a week. How long do you think it would take me to pass his sales? And if he is the number one salesman, how long do you think it would take me to become the number one salesman?
Honestly, not very long.
That car salesman made a very serious lapse in judgment. He arrogantly assumed he knew everything relevant to his field because he had been doing it about 20 years. At that point he is content. That is when someone who isn't content, comes and knocks him on his a$$. But the issue of being content is a topic for another post.
Information and knowledge is always changing. Let's pretend a doctor by some miracle managed to learn EVERY man known thing about medicine. You think in a year he is still going to know everything unless he keeps learning it? Hell no. Don't ever assume you know everything. That is one of the worst things you can do.
Warren Buffett spends 80% of his day reading and thinking. In fact, he attributes reading as one of the main reasons for his success. Its no surprise that the top earners read more. I am not the smartest, the fastest or the strongest. But you better damn well believe I will be the most knowledgeable in my area of competence. And if I am not I will work everyday with that goal in mind. It's all a knowledge game. I would rather take someone more knowledgeable over someone smarter any day of the week.
There is more to reading than just being better than someone else though. It's about being better than who you were before you started reading that book. Through reading I have learned from the greatest minds in history. I become more self aware. My perceptions and understanding have increased ten fold. In one year of seriously reading I have learned more than I ever did in public education. Reading starts thoughts in your mind and it makes you think about things you would never think about had you not read that book.
If you don't read it tells me you’re just a waste of my time. Mediocre people do mediocre things. If you don't read you are mediocre. I don't surround myself with mediocre people and neither should you.
Until next time,
-toughroadbusinessman
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