- Wow! So, that really makes a lot of sense, Dan.
What you're saying is it doesn't matter what books you read.
It depends on what stage you're in
that you read certain books.
- Correct.
- Right?
- Correct.
- So then, I guess my next question would be...
'cause I see you read a lot of books.
So, how do you effectively learn?
You know, what's the fastest way to get the best
information out in a short period of time?
(upbeat music)
- I don't read books. I use books.
And that's a big distinction.
So, when I read a book, my idea...
I'm not trying to understand
everything the author is saying,
I'm not trying to understand all his background
because the purpose of learning is mastery.
It's all about implementation.
So, I'm using an example.
Sometimes, if I'm reading a book,
is not like all, you know...
I know there are people talking about
I read a book a day, I read a book a week, or whatever.
I read about two to three books a week.
I'm constantly learning podcasts or different programs,
or different things, or talking to consultants.
That's how I learn the most.
But when it comes to reading, I read a book.
Sometimes, if I'm looking for any book that I read,
I don't have a simple question.
I want to get...
What are the three ideas out there I can get
from the book that I can implement right now?
Just three.
Not 10, not 20, not 100. Three ideas.
If I could get those three ideas
from the first three chapters,
I would highlight those, I would take those,
and I put the book away.
I put it back on the shelf.
Maybe later on I'll go back there
and read the rest of the book
and implement some of the other ideas.
But if I got my big three, that's all I need.
Sometimes, I would get those ideas in the back of each
chapter where they're talking about action steps
and Summary and Resources, that's awesome.
Sometimes, I got the idea just from the Table of Content.
If I can't read the Table of Content
that gave me three ideas, I put it away,
and then just implement.
So, I don't read books.
It's not about accumulation.
I think here's the big distinction I want you to get.
One of the most powerful tool,
one of the boat most powerful mindset
you need to have in life with business is clarity.
And clarity is power.
And what is power?
The power is the ability to take action.
So, the more you read, the more confused that you get,
it gives you less clarity.
It means it takes away from your power.
If more reading gives you more clarity,
and gives you more ability to act,
that's good. That's powerful, right?
That's on the right track.
So, there's a big difference between
information and knowledge, and knowledge to wisdom.
Let me explain.
This would give you a lot of clarity.
Information is just facts, data, numbers, figures,
theories, principles, that's just information.
There's a lot of information on the internet.
There's a lot of information on YouTube.
There's a lot of information on Google.
There's a lot of information,
but information itself does not help you.
It does not make you richer, it does not make you happier,
it does not make you healthier,
it does not make you smarter.
Information is just information.
It's like when you go to school, right?
You're reading, you're going to class.
Your textbook. There's a lot of information
in the textbook, right?
That's the first stage.
Once you gather enough information,
now, you're accumulating what I call knowledge.
So, you get a lot information,
and you now learn about the distinctions.
Now, you take that information,
you apply it or may take that information,
and you take a test.
That's knowledge.
After the test, you'll know after the exam in school,
"oh, that works" or "no, that was the wrong answer,"
or "I didn't pass the exam",
or "here are the mistakes that I got wrong."
Well, you're learning from it, right?
That's accumulating your knowledge.
So, a lot of people, they read books to acquire information.
You watch videos to acquire information,
and you wonder how come I'm watching a lot of videos,
I'm learning, but my life is still the fucking same?
'Cause you haven't convert information to knowledge.
And from knowledge into experience.
Now, how do you convert knowledge into experience?
So, now you acquire some knowledge.
You got to implement.
And the only way you get experience
is you fucked up a lot, right?
You make the mistakes.
You see if this stuff works, right?
Now, you're getting experience.
You're seeing a pattern of things.
Goes back to the school example,
now, you take enough exams.
Remember the class you take from like
grade nine, 10, 11, 12, right?
Now, you take enough exams,
studying the same subject for many years in a row.
Now, you see a pattern.
Okay, I'm accumulating more things.
I'm getting more experience of what works and what doesn't.
Now, experience is much more valuable than knowledge,
and knowledge is more valuable than information.
So, books itself, is just information.
Information does not change your life.
You gotta convert it by gathering and filter into knowledge.
From knowledge, now, you implement.
Now, you get to the next step, which is experience.
Then, from experience, from now you have done it long enough
for long period of time, now is evolved into wisdom.
And there's a big difference between information,
or even knowledge versus wisdom.
I don't think I'm a...
Talk to most people, I don't think I'm a super smart guy.
I don't think they describe me as a smart guy.
They describe more me as a wise man.
I'm wise because I've done a lot of things,
a lot of experience, right?
And that's the thing....
A lot of people are smart, but they are not wise.
Wisdom is something completely different, okay?
Wisdom is knowing what not to do.
Wisdom is knowing when you don't have to do something.
So, let's say enough experience, you know what?
This is how I'm going to make this work.
These are 20 things that I could do.
My experience tells me these are the 20 things
I could do to make me successful.
Wisdom is knowing, okay,
19 of these is bullshit. Just do this one.
That is the difference.
Knowledge is about accumulation.
Wisdom is about elimination.
Sleep on that.
Wisdom is about elimination.
It is about simplicity.
It's not about daily increase,
it's about daily decrease.
But you cannot get to wisdom without knowledge.
You cannot get to wisdom without experience.
You have to go through all of that.
Now, you can simplify everything that you do.
And the only few things that you need
to do to get you the results,
you don't need to do 100 things.
You can do a couple of things, and you do it well.
And that's wisdom.
And most people, they're smart, but they're not wise.
And you can tell.
You can tell from the way that they share,
the way that they communicate, there's not a lot of depth.
Where they speak from, the place they speak from,
it lacks a lot of depth.
But when you're talking to a wise man,
you see "wow, that makes a lot of sense.
Whatever he's speaking about, it's makes a lot of sense.
There's depth behind those words."
That's wisdom. That's what I'm talking about.
So, I don't read books. I use books.
It's all about taking ideas,
taking the information, convert it into knowledge.
And, as soon as I convert to knowledge,
I want it to turn into an experience,
and then, I want to filter through my years of experience,
and then, condense that into wisdom that I have,
that works for me.
What works for me may not work for you.
My wisdom is different from yours.
But, this is what works for me.
So, there are many stages learning.
It's not so much "oh, what books do I read, Dan,"
or "what's the best way to learn all this stuff?"
You see, it is a very surface level question.
You need to go deeper than that.
You need to go beyond and just watching videos
to now taking the information, what I'm teaching you,
implementing it, go out there in the real world,
apply this shit, and see what works!
What works for you? What doesn't work for you?
You can read about how to swim
until you are in the swimming pool, right?
Until you swim, you learn.
And now, you can swim back and forth many, many laps.
And then, now, you're swimming in the lake, right?
That's experience!
Now when you have wisdom, you go swim in the ocean,
but you also know better not go that area.
There are sharks there, right?
That's wisdom.
So, comment below.
How are you gonna change the way that you learn?
How are you gonna change the way that you read books?
How are you gonna change the way, not just learning
or gathering more information,
but accumulating true knowledge, true experience,
and eventually, wisdom.
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And what a beautiful day.
Until next time, I'll see you in my Bentley.