Today's Business Lessons
Not all minutes are created equal
Are
you running out of creative juices? Do you get the feeling that you
are not catching up with the changing times? That feeling is good, but
you need to do something about it.
Not all minutes are created equal. Some people make every minute
productive. Some simply waste it. It is common sense to embark on a
serious personal journey of growth and development, but the question now
is this: If common sense is so obvious, then how come common sense is
not so common after all?
Allow me to provide some practical tips on building ingenuity and getting your creative juices flowing — and working for you.
Are you sitting in your cubicle doing nothing but pushing pixels and
wondering why you have a creative idea drought? Get out of there. Take a
walk. Visit the bookstore during the break, have a change of scenery
and, refuel your creative mind with new things you see. You cannot
squeeze out creative ideas when your well is dry.
Information is important. More important is the ability to process
the information, understand it, and then apply it. Going through these
things on a constant basis is how you improve. Many people attend my
seminars and take down lots and lots of notes, but when they get home,
they file their notes somewhere, never to be revisited; they just wasted
their time and money. There are a few who do realize that they
actually do not need to collect tons of information, but to act on a few
key points and make them a part of their work or personal life. Those
are the ones who experience positive change.
Let’s talk about reading books. Do not read your books the way you
listen to a monologue. Converse with your books. Highlight words,
write down your thoughts, argue with the author. Put your ideas on the
margins, because this is how you learn from books. Some people do not
want to “dirty” their books, and so the pristine untouched book is kept
on the shelf gathering dust.
ake care to not just read, but to read sensible material. Many young
people today waste their time reading trash. I have always wondered how
their lives are supposed to improve when all they read are love stories
featuring vampires and werewolves. Maybe this is the reason why great
men of history like Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, William
Wilberforce, and John Newton are foreign to them. If they stay on a
steady diet of vampires and werewolves, I am sure their newfound heroes
will be the “Walking Dead!”
What about digital devices? I used to spend a fortune on CD’s and
DVD’s, and I would read books and attend seminars both here and abroad.
They all cost me a fortune. And then Steve Jobs introduced the iPod. It
was not an original invention; I remember buying a “Rio,” which was a
predecessor to Jobs’s device, but it was crude, unfriendly, and
difficult to use. I shelved my Rio and ignored the iPod. Until one day, a
bright young enthusiastic boy named Vohne showed me one he was using,
and that got me hooked.
From that time on I had a portable, user-friendly, extremely
effective mobile university I carry with me at all times. It is without
exaggeration that I claim today that the device, which has since had
many other models, is still a constant companion and a very important
tool for my personal learning. And the good news is that all those CD’s
and DVD’s that cost me a fortune are now offered for free in the form of
podcasts. And they get regularly updated when one subscribes to the
service.
I listen to podcasts when I brush my teeth, when I wash my face, when
I am dressing up. I listen to podcasts when I am in my car and when
people complain about the agony of enduring Metro Manila’s worsening
traffic. I have a wonderful time learning through my portable university
— all for free.
The desire to learn has to be there, and the desire should bring with
it a bias towards action. Most people miss out on learning because they
prefer to be entertained rather than educated.
Do not waste time, and do not waste resources. Time is the most
valuable currency you and I have, and when you waste your time, you
waste your life.
Live and learn; and then learn to live.
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