Who Told You Knowledge Is Power?

A whole lot of us pursue knowledge for knowledge sake and, some store this knowledge like books on a shelf. If I ask you what is knowledge or the reason for the knowledge you require?  What will be your answer? knowledge is not and will never be power, yes, I said it. Contrary to everything you have ever been told.

 Have you ever asked yourself the reason you were taught logarithm and indices, simultaneous equation and some others in school we were only taught the knowledge but they never tutor us on how to apply it to our daily life or put it in action.

I remember growing with this idea that knowledge is power, even the motto of my school boldly stated it “KNOWLEDGE IS POWER”, I realize we have miss interpreted the phrase "Knowledge is Power".

 Knowledge was derived from a Latin word "educo", meaning to educe, to draw out, to develop from within. According to oxford dictionary, Knowledge is the sum of what is known, it is also the skills acquired through experience or education.

Knowledge only becomes power when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action, and directed to a definite end.

Knowledge only becomes power, when you know how to use it.

Knowledge only becomes power, when you put it to work.

knowledge will not attract commercial value, unless it is organized, and intelligently directed, through practical plans of action, to the definite end of accumulation of money.

 A lot of graduate came out with good grade but how many of them are “successful” today, just a few of them reason because only the few applied the knowledge they have acquire in a unique way. Some of them are

1.       Ben Carson:  he was the first neurosurgeon to successful separated a conjoined twin. He was a graduate of the university of Yale and the university of Michigan.

2.       Dr. Philip Emeagwali inventor of world fastest computer

3.       Mohammed Bah Abbah inventor of pot-in-pot refrigerator

4.       Eng. Shehu Saleh Balami Inventor and designing of the first solid fuel rocket.

5.       Aliko Dangote Studied business at Al-Azhar university in Cairo. Today the business he starts with N500,000 is now a multi-billion-dollar investment.

6.       Mrs Folorunsho Alakija: she started her career as a secretary at the now defunct international merchant bank of Nigeria, she is currently making a fortune from oil. She studied fashion design in England in the 1980s and founded supreme stitches, a Nigerian fashion label that catered to upper class clientele. She is currently the richest in Nigeria and second wealthiest in Africa.

I can keep listing them, all this successful individual applied what they have been taught that’s why they are successful today.

we need to educate ourselves on how to organize and use knowledge after acquiring it. I saw a post on Instagram recently, the guy was asking the usefulness of "Junior Waec" he never realize the useful of it because he was never taught on how to apply or put what he has learnt in action.

 The system of education to civilization today, has failed to teach students how to organize and use knowledge after they acquire it.

Many people make the mistake of assuming that not schooling means you are not educated which is not true. Remember this, if you suffer from a feeling of inferiority, because your schooling has been limited Most of the richest successful people in the world has no academic degree so don’t limit yourself. Below is a list of Rich & Successful men Without College Degree:

1.       Thomas A Edision: had only three months of schooling during his entire life he did not lack education, neither did he die poor

2.       Henry Fold:  had less than a sixth grade " schooling" but he has managed to do pretty well by himself, financially.

3.       Ingvar Kampraid: grew up on a farm in Sweden and started IKEA with a bit of cash his father gave him for doing well in high school when he was 17, IKEA today is a Dutch base multinational group that designs and sells ready to assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories. Today the company is worthy $40 billion.

4.       Leonardo Del Vecchio: he’s worth $10.billion from Luxottica(Eyewear), although he never went to college, Leonardo has received four honorary degrees from various Italian universities.

5.       Abramovich was a college dropout, once sold plastic toys out of his small apartment in Russia. Today he worth $11.2 billion.

6.       Cosmos Maduka: He is an African Billionaire who at the age of 7 dropped out of primary school, today he is the founder of cosharis group which is the sole distributor for BMW and Ford cars in Nigeria and most of west Africa.

7.       Vincent Obianodo began as a vulcanizer in the Nigeria and ended up founding young shall grow motors.

8.       Orji Uzor Kalu: Although he enrolled at the university of Maiduguri, he was expelled and did not ever enroll again, today He is the chairman of SLOK holding and the daily sun and new Telegraph newspapers in Nigeria. He also serves as the governor of Abia state, Nigeria.

9.       Cletus Madubugwu Ibeto: is the founder of the ibeto group which is one of the largest auto spare parts manufacturers in Nigeria.

Don’t get me wrong Am not limiting the power of academics, in fact am currently running a program at National Open University of Nigeria. What am trying to say is knowledge either general or specific will have no value, except it has been applied or put in action.

A lot of Nigerian undergraduate and graduate still believes that having a university certificate is enough for them to be wealthy which is not true, it takes more than that. According to Vice President Osibanjo (At the 10^th convocation of the lead city university, Ibadan) “By talent, a good degree and coming from a very well-to-do family does not bring success and certainly it does not bring greatness, those who get the best degrees do not necessarily become the most successful in life”. Reason been Its takes more than good degree to be successful(in the next episode I will elaborate more on it).

Education don’t necessarily mean learning in the four corner of a school, education means an enlightening experience, process of facilitating, learning, values, beliefs and habits.

Your day to day activities and experiences educate you.

Who is an Educated man?

According to Napoleon hills

·         An educated man is not, necessarily, one who has abundance of general or specialized knowledge.

·         An educated man is one who has so developed the faculties of his mind that he may acquire anything he wants, or equivalent, without violating the rights of others

·         An educated man knowns where to find it when he needs it, and how to organize that knowledge into definite plan of action

·         An educated man can direct a “master mind" group of people who possess knowledge useful in the accumulation of money. He is just as educated as any man in the group.

In summary, as knowledge is acquired it must be put in action, you need to find out the knowledge you need to achieve your goals and aspiration. As a medical student, Engineer or any field of study don’t limit yourself to what you have been taught alone do research and practice it, it’s time to find solutions to the problems of world, The World is looking for problem solvers.

Refuse to be a mental hobo. make every day count, introduce something into your life that count and put it in action daily.

Proverb 22 v29 says “seest thou a man diligent in his business. He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean man”.

Success is waiting for the man who plans for it, who reaches out for it, who has made up his mind to be the best always.

WATCH OUT FOR EPISODE 2

GENERAL VS SPECIALIZE KNOWLEDGE

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