Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning!

“If you encounter a man of rare intellect, you should ask him what books he reads.” – Ralph Waldo

For a very long time, I was tempted not to write on this topic. I felt that the importance of being a lifelong learner is so obvious. However, I remembered that it is the simplest and the most obvious things in life that we don’t do that makes us remain bound. The simple things we take for granted are often the reason we don’t transform.

A while ago, when I had an unhealthy relationship with books, I came across a fable that provoked and led me into developing a solid reading culture. The story goes something like this: A rich father-in-law—on his son’s wedding day—presented the young bridal couple with a gift of a book. Assuming this to be just another book, the newlywed couple placed the book on the shelf, never to open it. In the meantime, they quietly cursed the father. They couldn’t imagine how such a rich man could give them a very “trivial” and “useless” gift on their big day!

A short while after the wedding, the couple’s life together became very tough financially. Unknown to them, the father had inserted a fat cheque among the pages of the book they received on the wedding day. The value of the cheque was so great that it could comfortably provide for all their financial needs for many years. And for the many tough-years the couple went through, they never opened the book and so did not discover the hidden ‘treasure!’

Many years later, the father thoroughly disturbed by the couple’s lifestyle and apparent need, demanded an account for his wedding present.

Imagine the shock and regrets when the couple reached for the dusty book on the shelf only to discover a now expired fat cheque. What a loss! If only they could have bothered to open the book…!

It is said that if you want to hide something from an ignorant person, hide it in a book. I can’t agree more. The above metaphorical story paints a clear picture of most people today who never realize the great treasures hidden in books because they never commit themselves to seek knowledge. Why…? They think they know. This is the prevailing attitude: “You can’t tell me. I know that already.”

What’s the most important skill you need?

To be successful, you will definitely need many specialized skills but the most important one will surprise you: It is the capacity to read and being a lifelong student of your craft. I hope you got that right. The capacity to read and being a lifelong student of your craft. To be truly successful, you must cultivate a reading culture. By this, I mean reading not just for tests or exams, but for knowledge. This means reading voraciously outside whatever is required of you.

Upon starting a new career, most people grow for a short moment and then they level off or hit a plateau. They stop growing and remain stuck. “Why?” You ask. Well, the main reason is that most of these people stopped learning the day they graduated from school, or for the case of employees, the day they got a basic understanding of their job requirements. By relaxing in their new comfort zone, they set a ceiling on their careers and close the door to new ideas. This explains why we have people with degrees in high offices who are functionally illiterate.

In today’s society, with increasingly disruptive changes in technology and the way of life, what brought you where you are in terms of career or anything of importance to you will not sustain you over the next two years. A degree hanging on your wall, acquired five years ago, is not enough! You must be nimble and constantly update your skills if you are going to survive in these turbulent and unpredictable times.

The preceding statement has the potential to transform your life if you really desire to excel and willing to put in the necessary work:

If you want to be in the top 10% of people in your field. There is one thing you need to do: Buy and read books. Reading one book per month should be your minimum target—that is—if you really want to get to the top!

I know most people will be skeptical and dismiss the above suggestion because they say they are too busy to read that much. If you are one of these people, let me pose this question to you: What will happen if you are so busy driving that you don’t have time to refuel…? Sooner or later you will stall!

In his book, A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin, wrote, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.”

Reading is to the mind as physical exercise is to the body. If you consistently do physical exercises, you’ll definitely become physically fit. In the same breath, a voracious reader will become mentally fit. What is even more interesting is the fact that human brain is elastic and develops with use. This means that our ability to learn is unlimited. Actually, the more we learn, the more we increase our ability to learn, and the better we become in terms of creativity and offering real solutions.

Oliver Wender once said, “A mind once exposed to a new idea never regains its original dimensions.” Reading strengthens our intellectual and cognitive ability, making it easier to understand the situations we find ourselves into. It gives one the ability to synthesize information, understand a problem and make persuasive inferences more easily than those who don’t read. Recently, someone told me, “Serengia, when you are reading, you’re thinking, predicting, questioning, evaluating, defining and redefining at the same time.” What a powerful process?

One of my greatest goals in life that I am still pursuing is to build the biggest library in my house. I believe the greatest culture to create in any home is a reading culture. Make your children love books when they are young and they will never abandon that love. Heinrich Mann once said, “A house without books is like a room without windows. It is dark!” Oh goodness! I don’t know about you but I can’t live is such a house!

If you desire true success, perhaps you should start by selling your TV. Whereas the truly rich people (and I mean: financially, spiritually, physically, emotionally, and socially) have the biggest library, the poor—in all aspects of the word —have the biggest TV.

Here is the point, most people don’t read, not because they lack resources but because they don’t value reading. The best illustration of this is the following conversation:

A pastor of a great church asked a young man, “Where is your bible?”
“I can’t afford one, sir,” responded the young man. 
“Then sell your shoes!” retorted the pastor.

Clearly, it isn’t a matter of affordability more than it is a matter of priorities and what you value most. I wonder where we would be if we all valued books as Desiderius Erasmus, a 1500s scholar. He is quoted for having declared, “When I get little money, I buy books and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.” Well. You get the point.

I might risk being trashed by some rigid intellectuals but the truth is, nowadays you don’t need to go to college if you can read. The true university of our days is a collection of books and online resources. And if you think these things are too expensive, then you haven’t yet realized the value they can bring to you, your family and your community.

You don’t know it all

A story is told of a wise Zen master. People traveled from far to seek his help. In return, he would generously teach them and share his wisdom.

One day a young scholar came to visit the master for advice. “I have come to ask you to teach me about Zen,” said the scholar.

Soon, it became obvious that the scholar was full of his own opinions and knowledge. He would repeatedly interrupt the master with what he knows and failed to listen to what the master had to say.

Finally, the master calmly suggested that they should have tea. The scholar held the cup as the master began to pour tea into the cup. The cup was filled but the master kept pouring until it overflowed onto the table, onto the floor, and finally onto the scholar’s robes.

“Stop! The cup is full. Can’t you see?” Cried out the young scholar.

“Exactly,” the Zen master replied with a smile. “You see, when your cup is full, there is no room for more. You are like this cup, you’re so full of ideas that nothing will go in. Come back to me with an empty cup.”

The message: No matter how much you know or you think you know, always be humble and approach the world with the beginner’s mind.

Over the years, I realized that most people don’t learn because of their ego. They are too proud to acknowledge the fact that there is something they don’t know, or they simply don’t want to look foolish! With only a few exceptions, the majority of people will never admit that they don’t know the answer, leave alone being wrong. It is somehow wired in their system not to back-down and listen to anything that threatens to challenge their preconceived notions and perceptions. That was me until I learned the hard way through silly mistakes that could have been avoided.

In my earlier years, despite thinking that I knew a lot about life and business, my results were showing otherwise. I experienced defeat after defeat. To excel, I later figured that I had to choose between perishing in my ‘I know it all’ attitude or swallowing my pride and being a student of the game. Luckily I chose the latter.

Humility is the basic prerequisite to learning. When you think you know it all, you close the doors to learning. No one is too smart, too old, too talented or too experienced to learn.

Whereas the average employee hardly reads one book in a year, most CEOs read over 60 books in a year. That’s why they earn 100 times more than the rest and let’s face it: they deserve more! You want to shine and be compensated more in your field, know more than anyone in that field. Always be a student and never stop learning no matter how smart you think you are.

I am a lifelong learner and a student of my craft. With a great emphasis on applying what I learn to improve all aspects of my life, I am always reading great books, great articles and listening to podcasts. Whenever I’m having my routine evening walks or workouts, I particularly enjoy listening to audiobooks. Every quarter I attend at least one Hackathon. I have also made it a habit of always asking questions every time I am privileged to be in the presence of someone I can learn from. I heed to the Chinese proverb that says, “He who asks questions is a fool for five minutes, he who does not ask questions is a fool forever.” My mantra is simple: It’s better to appear foolish and learn rather than appear smart and perish out of ignorance.

The cost of ignorance

The Bible in Hosea 4:6, says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

A good example is from the medical field. Before the 18th century, many people died after surgery due to bacterial infection. No one knew about microbes. However, once the research was done and antiseptics introduced, recovery rates instantly shot up to 99.999%!

The cost of ignorance is just too horrendous.

I once read a story that has stuck with me:
The management of a leading referral hospital in a great city had noticed something strange in the hospital’s ICU department. In one of the ICU wards, a person died at a specific time, in spite of whether he or she was in stable or critical condition. The trend at which people died was so alarming that the management of the hospital decided to hire detectives to help do some urgent investigation.

It didn’t take long before the “killer” was found!

One morning, at the exact time when a person died, a detective was able to watch a hospital cleaner get into the ICU ward. Curious to find out what goes on in the room at that specific time, he positioned himself in a suitable spot where he could watch every single move the cleaner took.

What the detective found-out was shocking. You see, every time the cleaner came to do his cleaning job, he would unplug the life-supporting machine😀 and instead use the socket to plug the vacuum cleaner. Later on, he would plug back the ICU machine, and by the time he did that, a life was lost without his knowledge!

Whereas “who” to blame can be a debate for another day, it is clear that the cost of ignorance is just too high to pay!

As a student of the game and not the master, allow me to ask you this question: What could be destroying you without you knowing? Often than not, the culprit is a lack of knowledge. You see, lack of knowledge equals destruction! In my life, I will always remember Maya Angelou for this classic line: “If you know better, you will do better.”

Learn from anything and anybody you can. With a teachable spirit and an open mind, everybody and every circumstance can teach you something new –whether it’s a good lesson to apply or warning on what not to do. Also, read voraciously. Ask questions where you don’t understand. And yes, be humble! Appear foolish but learn. Most importantly, apply the lessons you learn. The goal is not just to be puffed with knowledge but to experience true transformation fueld by your knowledge. When you do that, your mind will be stretched, your perspectives shaped, and your life will be transformed as well as the lives of those around you. You will become more and more valuable in your field and achieve more than you ever thought possible.

Wisdom and knowledge, where do we draw the line?

To give you a full doze, perhaps I should clarify the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Although the two are closely related, there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Having knowledge is becoming aware of something either through experience, observation, information or inquiry. On the other hand, having wisdom is being able to effectively act on the knowledge you have.

Wisdom is a fruit of knowledge. You can’t have wisdom without knowledge, but having knowledge does not necessarily mean that you are wise. There are people who have knowledge but lack wisdom. You might be knowing that the fire burns, but if you lack wisdom, you will sit on the fire and roast your bums! Wisdom helps you to act, and act accordingly.