Chapter 3: Because Knowledge is Power
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
– Jim Rohn
Knowledge is power. Or maybe it’s that knowing’s half the battle. Regardless of your early 90’s saying of choice, knowledge is empowering.
No matter the size and strength of our network and support system, it’s all for naught if we don’t consistently learn, and then apply that learning in the real world.
When it comes to our Emotional Wealth, it’s a constant focus on learning that raises our emotional ceiling. As our understanding of the world expands, our emotional riches expand along with it. With knowledge, we give ourselves the ability to think deeper, form stronger connections, see more opportunities, and execute more effectively.
All of these attributes of knowledge - only a few of the infinite benefits - give us the emotional wherewithal to accomplish anything we want in life. Through greater understanding, we receive a higher level of emotional stability.
Rather than taking the stance of a victim, and letting life happen to us, we are able to see things as they are, and take the stance of an architect, shaping the life we want.
Become a Book Worm
Whoever decided that nerds weren’t cool clearly wasn’t too motivated to succeed. Success is cool, and the only way to become successful is to learn about the things that drive you.
In this sense, learning is the coolest thing you can do, and consuming content is the first step to learning. Whether the content be a book, audio book, podcast, YouTube video, or live event, it will spark your mind, increase your motivation and drive, and therefore, increase your Emotional Wealth.
“Content,” in this sense, is a package of knowledge, delivered right to your doorstep. It’s the aggregate understanding and dissemination of an author or speaker, specific to a subject or field in which he or she is an expert.
When someone produces content, they’re literally emotionally rich, and are giving their understanding of riches to whomever wants to receive it. This is because when an expert produces content, their emotional brainwaves are literally vibrating at a higher frequency.
They’re tapping into their emotional well of knowledge and showing us things we wouldn’t be able to see otherwise. They’re writing and speaking with passion, love, joy, and understanding, about a subject that has changed their lives, and can most likely change yours.
It doesn’t matter what it is you love or what specifically drives you, there’s content out there that will resonate with you. By seeking it out and consuming it, you’ll increase the vibration of your own brainwaves, seeing more of the world around you and increasing your emotional ceiling and stability.
I’ve been able to deepen my emotional well and increase my emotional ceiling through the following systemization of knowledge and content consumption:
1. Start with a mindset shift:
Before any higher learning can take place, you need to believe that true success, in whatever capacity that means to you, is possible. We’ve all gone through years of social conditioning that’s told us to get a steady job, have 2.5 kids, live a middle class life of mediocrity, and teach everyone to do the same.
We’ve been beaten down emotionally to believe that the world is the way it is, and there’s little use trying to change it.
We need to break free of these mental chains before we can pursue our higher calling of true Wealth. In this vein, it’s important that we constantly and consistently consume content that gives us: drive, motivation, positivity, and purpose.
As Zig Ziglar reminds us, “Motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
This type of content consumption is the firewood for your emotional flames.
2. Follow it up with a passion:
While still consuming general, positive content, add more specific content in the field or vertical where your passions reside.
If you’re interested in nutrition, for example, begin to consume content around health and wellness. If you’re interested in business, like I am, consume content around business growth and sales strategies. If you’re interested in art, seek out the content of successful artists.
This way, you’re taking care of the emotional positivity you need through the general content of motivation, and you’re also growing your emotional passions around topics you enjoy.
With that emotional positivity and emotional passion, your learning will catapult you to heights never thought possible…until you read it was, of course!
3. Finish it off with some variety:
No, I wouldn’t recommend the magazine Variety; it might very well decrease your knowledge and understanding.
Instead, add content that doesn’t relate to your passion at all.
At first glance, this advice seems like it could knock you off your path to your passion. Not so. Once you believe that anything is possible, and you have the emotional acumen to follow your passion, it’s time to put two and two together.
By adding variety to your content consumption, and learning about things that don’t relate to your immediate goals, you’ll actually expand your understanding of the world around you.
Much like the psychological theory known as The Outsider Effect, where industry insights come from outside the industry itself, by consuming fiction books, books on travel, famous biographies, etc., you’re able to gain insights on subjects you aren’t traditionally familiar with.
By doing this, you’ll be able to identify what it is you truly enjoy, or how you want to specifically express your passion. You’re able to connect your emotional dots, and you begin to understand the constructs of the world that you’d like to shape.
Put Knowledge into Practice
I’ve stressed it before, and I’ll stress it again: true wealth can’t be achieved if you don’t have real-world experiences.
Knowledge, although emotionally important, is unfulfilling and ineffective if you don’t put what you learn into practice. It’s the summation of reference experiences that allow you to increase your emotional riches. Through reference experiences, your understanding of the world grows.
When your understanding grows, your emotional ceiling grows. When your emotional ceiling grows, you increase your emotional riches, and you increase your Emotional Wealth.
How does a greater understanding increase your Emotional Wealth?
You just get it. You begin to see the mechanics of the world, and how it operates. You literally see, in your mind’s eye, the outside forces that are enacted on us humans. You can touch the fabric of society, and unwind how it creates our social conditioning.
Then, when unexpected events occur, both good and bad, you’re not emotionally unaware.
If a negative event occurs, you’re more likely to take it in stride, because you understand the cause. In fact, the emotional riches gained through knowledge, actually position you to take advantage of negative or unforeseen events.
If a positive event occurs, you’re more likely to remain even keel, and protect your emotional energy from an abnormal “high.” You understand that highs are as fleeting as lows, and that you need to remain emotionally balanced, and love the entire journey, rather than the highs alone.
But, none of this understanding and Emotional Wealth can occur if you don’t live in the real world.
My friend is a musician and producer in Los Angeles. He’s spent years fine-tuning his musical craft. Starting as a guitarist and singer, he pivoted post-college into the electronic dance music scene, made up of musicians like Tiesto, Avicii, and Dillon Francis.
Currently, he’s a DJ and producer, writing music both for himself and other artists.
Throughout his musical journey, however, from a garage band to an on-stage DJ and behind the scenes producer, he focused on increasing his musical abilities. He practiced writing music, recording audio, and mixing tracks.
He sought out specific knowledge in the industry in which he was interested. He consumed content, both audio and print, that made him a better technical producer as well as a more creative one. Through his learning and understanding, he gained confidence in his abilities, increasing his emotional ceiling and Emotional Wealth.
But, as important as knowledge is, he was in for a rude awakening. His understanding of music as an art form was high, and his confidence even higher. He hadn’t, however, tried to use his learning in the real world.
With the ultimate goal of being a touring DJ, he tried to parlay his musical chops and learning into bookings for large concerts. What he found was that even though he had the musical abilities after years of practice, he had been missing one important aspect: marketing.
And it was only through the real world application of his aggregate knowledge that he began to understand this. He was able to see, quickly, what he was missing through reference experiences.
His inability to find the right people told him that he needed to work on networking and building a brand, two things that, if you’re focused on the creative process as an artist, are easy to forget.
Thankfully, his emotional stability, through the consistent process of consuming positive content, was high. He took this setback in stride. His emotional ceiling, higher than ever through his constant learning, allowed him to quickly learn new content. Rather than being disheartened, it allowed him to be excited about the opportunity to learn about a new skill.
So, while still continuing to increase his musical skill, he went back and began consuming content on marketing. He made a commitment to network with movers and shakers in the music business. He quickly applied his new marketing knowledge in the real world by experimenting with various social media and Sound Cloud strategies.
Some worked, and some didn’t. But through his reference experiences, he put a marketing plan in place and was able to book his first gig. His first gig got him his first producing contract, which gave him credibility in the industry, which allowed him to book gigs in increasingly larger venues, which afforded him the ability to live the life he always wanted.
When you are rich in Emotional Wealth, even the greatest of setbacks are viewed as learning experiences. Any failure is seen as a chance to grow. When you add the intentional consumption of knowledge, both general and specific, you not only see life as one large learning experience, but you also have the wherewithal to turn any situation into opportunity.
When this happens, your confidence grows. When your confidence grows, your emotional stability strengthens. When your emotional stability strengthens, you increase your emotional riches and enter a phase of true Emotional Wealth.
Treat Every Day Like an Experiment
“There are three principles to acquiring knowledge: observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the results of that combination.” – Denis Diderot
In reality, choosing to have reference experiences is fun! You get to treat every day like an experiment.
Try things that work. Try things that don’t. Combine two principles you learned in two completely unrelated topics and see if they work together. See if they don’t
While the first two phases of learning test the knowledge and understanding of others, this phase of learning allows you to create your own hypotheses, and then test for yourself whether or not they’re correct.
This is the best part of life: trying out new ideas!
When you’re going through the first phase of learning and consuming content, there will be some principles that jive with you and some that don’t. By having reference experiences surrounding those principles, you’ll learn a lot. Some principles you thought you believed might turn out to ring false in the real world, and vice versa.
Then, when you’ve collected enough principles and tested them in the real world, you can start to put two and two together.
Maybe an outsourced marketing strategy read about in Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Work Week could be applied to the music industry. Maybe a business strategy used by Benjamin Franklin, and learned by you through his biography, is just the principle you need to start a successful nonprofit.
It’s by learning a principle, and then testing it in the real world, and then forming connections between multiple principles, and then testing your new theory in the real world, that we truly increase our understanding.
It’s by conducting all three phases of knowledge, constantly testing them in real life situations, and then rinsing and repeating, that we realize true Emotional Wealth through knowledge.