Do you ever find yourself chasing information? You have got a problem to solve, a challenge to overcome, something to fix, what do you do?
Do you get a book, listen to a podcast, watch a bunch of youtube videos? Are you sure it is the best way of doing it? If you just accumulate information then the accumulation of that information feels like its own reward and your brain will feel full and satisfied, as if it had a good meal and ambition goes down rapidly.
The Brain Is Full, But Nothing Changed
The worst thing is that while the brain is full, fat and happy, your results are still the same. Nothing changed. This is a typical phenomenon I have seen so many times in the field of leadership and coaching. People love attending workshops, reading countless books about the subject, but only a very few of them actually apply that knowledge and train themselves.
Becoming A Master In Your Field
I am not talking about just clients, but coaches, too. It is not about the amount of accumulated information, but the amount of work they put into using them, actually engaging in making mistakes and failing. That is the difference between real practitioners and wannabes. The number of repetition. The sometimes boring, other times painful side of becoming a master in our field. It is a never-ending story. When we feel we are masters, that is a sure sign that we are not yet.
When I was young, I did martial arts for over 12 years. When I started it, I felt like a superhero. When I became national champion, I was humble as I understood what it took to get to that level, how many fighters were better than me outside of my current bubble and how difficult it was to stay there. There was a constant flow of new guys who wanted to be the best, success is not final. You stop working to celebrate yourself and somebody else will take over.
Applying Knowledge Leads To Transformation
Nothing can replace experience and practice. Accumulating information does not lead to transformation. Applying that knowledge through a series of challenges in real life might do.
Reading a new book, attending a new course might tick some boxes and we feel like we made some progress, but if we do nothing about it, then it had not much more benefit than eating a fancy salad after a big, fat pizza believing we had a healthy meal.
If we really want to level up, we need to be able to use our mindset so it becomes our ally instead of a selection of different parts of our identity who want different things at the same time. After that, it is going to make much more sense why people think and behave differently so we can get along with them and get ahead.
Let’s do something about intellectual obesity so it does not lead to corporate diabetes and turn it into a transformation that inspires others, too!
Csaba Toth, Founder of ICQ Global, developer of the multi-award-winning Global DISC ™, author of “Uncommon Sense in Unusual Times”
Csaba Toth
I lost my first business because I thought speaking the same language, having common sense, lots of qualifications and good intention would be enough to lead and serve people. I was wrong and I realised most leaders and entrepreneurs were struggling with the same problem so I wanted find a solution. Most of the opportunities, time and energy are lost for 2 reasons: friction with people who think and behave differently, and friction with ourselves. Both of them stem from the same reason, the lack of understanding of why people think and behave so differently so it is hard to turn those differences into synergy. My approach is about unlocking the incredible potential within and between people by helping them bridge the gap between their intention and impact.
