8 Steps to Sure Success: Step Three – Know How
December 16, 2014
“I have been impressed with the the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” – Leonardo DaVinci
Ever heard of Harvey Penick? He is known as one of the greatest golf instructors of all time. He once authored a book titled, “Little Red Book – Lessons and Teachings From a Lifetime of Golf.” Harvey talks about life’s lessons and tells the story of his son-in-law’s pleads for Harvey to teach him the game of golf. Instead, he tells him to purchase a nice set of golf clubs and just go enjoy himself. Well, six months later, the son-in-law approaches Harvey and is disheartened. He tells him that he is terrible at golf and desperately needs his help. He asks his father-in-law, “when can I have my first lesson?” Harvey replied, “you already have it! You first needed to find out how desperately you needed my help. That’s lesson number one. Now, we begin on the others.”
One of the greatest stumbling blocks to success is thinking we know how to succeed. If you can dream of success and if you have a personality that accepts the inherent risk of daring, your own strengths can blind you from seeing your ignorance! You must seek out the knowledge and wisdom that you will need to succeed!
Tiger Woods is arguably one of the greatest golfers of all time and he still has plenty of “gas in the tank” to compete for many more years. Yet, he has a swing coach and in fact, has had several throughout his career. Any professional athlete worth his salt has a fitness trainer, a technique trainer, a sports psychologist, a nutritionist, and personal advisor. It may appear that their professional success is a solo performance on the stage, the fairway, or on the court; however, there’s always an army of knowledge-power behind that athlete’s “gifted” success story. Harvey Penick’s talent is taking naturally gifted golfers and turning them into great golfers. Knowledge is power and the “know-how” is priceless!
There are three words that I want you to grasp with your mind and “know-how:”
KNOWLEDGE – the accumulation of facts
UNDERSTANDING – the ability to distinguish between various shades of gray and to discern or see the subtle differences between one piece of information and another
WISDOM – the mature knowledge of experience when the facts and the understanding are put to use at the right time and the right combination
“Facts” or “knowledge” tell you how a golfball flies through the air. “Understanding” helps you produce the desired effect on the ball depending on your stance, grip, or swing. “Wisdom” is knowing when and where to use your skill.
Many of you are involved in real estate investing. FACT: a majority of millionaires in the USA made their money in real estate! But that fact doesn’t make YOU a millionaire. Facts will tell you there are real estate developers, real estate brokers, real estate speculators, real estate agents, real estate investors, real estate “flippers,” real estate bankers, real estate landlords, and real estate owners. Knowing all the facts about each one of these won’t make you a millionaire either. But if you learn from experienced people, you gain understanding as to how the system truly works. From that point, you develop a personal strategy of how YOU want to go about buying and flipping houses for profit. The same process works for all other areas of successful pursuit.
