Knowledge Is Useless!
August 26, 2008 by BloggerNewbie
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Knowledge Is Useless!
Knowledge is useless. Hmmm. That’s a new concept. Or is it? Maybe it’s just a concept you haven’t heard before. How 
can knowledge ever be useless?
Knowledge is useless when you don’t apply the information that you have towards anything useful. Why would someone go through the process of gaining knowledge then not use it?
Behind it all too often is fear. Fear? But fear of what? A fear of failure, or even (as strange as it sounds) a fear of success. Fear of failure can be painfully obvious to most of us. The shame, the ridicule, the loss, etc.
But fear of success? Does the fear of success scare you so much that it freezes you into inaction? Is that possible? Could there be a negative side to success? Well success or the road to success usually requires a significant amount work.
Also, once you get there, it still requires significant effort to maintain your success. Many times people have trouble creating success, and are held back by self-imposed limitations. Often these limitations are more unconscious than conscious.
I can relate to this because I have been in the same situation. I was a great starter but not so much a finisher. I had to constantly tell myself to stop going from one thing to another, finish what you are doing. I have great ambition, motivation and optimism but I was afraid to follow through. I had unquestionably placed limits on what I was capable of and what was possible. My confidence level was shaky. If I did take a risk I often would unknowingly sabotage the success. Who can keep motivated when they are afraid of the outcome? The fear of the unknown! I would convince myself that I didn’t really want the benefits of this success.
Even in blogging, sometimes it is difficult to maintain confidence. I often get motivated and at the same time get discouraged when I visit popular successful blogs. 
But I decided to focus on a can do attitude – “Yes – I can do it!”. Writing this post with my killer title – “Knowledge is Useless” is an action I committed to do when I read about the challenge on ProBlogger – “Killer Titles – Group Writing Project”. Then I decided I needed to live by a different attitude. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
As I looked back over my life I decided things had to change. I needed to step out of my comfort zone. Was it really my comfort zone anyway? I always wanted more, something was always missing so where is the comfort zone.
I took stock in my characteristics and my confidence in my abilities grew. I gained a new clarity about me and what I wanted to do. I often told myself – Yes I can or Why not me? Other people seem to manage. Somehow, I was able to take action when opportunities appeared, something that had always been difficult for me. I began to see opportunities and opportunities began to see me. I developed a sense that helped me make smarter decisions regarding what path to take in a given situation, and I gradually began to shift my life from one of aimlessness to one of focused purpose. As this happened, my fears diminished and my ability to know what I wanted, and take steps to get it, increased. More importantly, my sense of having a purpose and of having a place in the world began to develop, which dramatically changed the way I felt about my life, and dramatically increased my confidence.
In other words, I stopped sabotaging myself, and you can do it, too. Your ability to consciously see exactly how you are creating your results allows you to begin to consciously choose (and create) 
the very results you want. Where it may have seemed before that a lot of things in your life “just happened,” and not necessarily the things you wanted to happen, you now begin to consciously choose and create what you do want to happen. You become more focused and see or create more opportunity for yourself.
Opportunity finds you – actually comes knocking at your door. There are no magic bullets for success. In every case, a person must have a focused goal and be willing to move toward it. With confidence, the fears and limitations that stand in your way begin to fade, and the balance and clarity (and self-awareness) you need begin to develop.
Since increased confidence and motivation are important, I urge you to build it, create it and it will surely lead you in the right direction. Knowledge is power. We’ve all heard that quote. But if we stop to think about it, is it really true? Does simply knowing a thing make you more powerful? I say that it takes more than just knowledge to become powerful; knowledge creates your awareness of your opportunities to create power. It depends what you know, but yes, on the whole, knowing something is only the beginning and means nothing without action.
What do you do with your knowledge? Do you know more than you do?
Toodles – Blog Happy!
“The more you know the less you need to say…”
~ Jim Rohn
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Came in via problogger. Enjoyed this post very much.
A lot of what you’re saying depends on this sharp divide between knowledge and action. But knowing itself is an action and dictates certain actions. Because we know, we’re restrained – we know not to put our hands in the fire because it’ll burn, etc.
What we need are criteria to distinguish between things we should fear and things we shouldn’t. Again, your post gets to the nature of this problem when you ask “what’s the worst that could happen?” And again, that’s a matter of knowledge.
I can’t emphasize enough that it is dangerous to say that knowledge isn’t simply good, or imply that it is incomplete. You need knowledge to say that, ironically enough, and we do live in an age where people think education exists so they can buy cell phones and SUV’s and not act justly towards each other or discover the mysteries of the universe or have the right words for others that embolden and aid. A lot of us call lots of aspects of education a waste of time, and that’s really sad, given that what separates us from animals is that we don’t just learn, but we share what we learn.
This post reminds me of the Tao of Pooh and how Owl is in search of “knowledge” and the knowledge usually hangs him up somehow. He wants knowledge to possess so that he can feel superior. He doesn’t really share it – doesn’t teach and he doesn’t really “learn” anything.
Action is imperative, I agree. I get lots of ideas and sometimes fumble with the follow-through. I hold myself back and even recognizing that I am holding myself back doesn’t always help.
Interesting post.
And thanks for visiting Dating Dames today. I appreciated you taking the time to comment.
@ ashok
Thank you for your comments and opinions. I like your point that it takes knowledge to simply ponder actions even if you don’t act – very true. I am a big advocate of education in all forms but it is discouraging when it is not used to its fullest potential.
@ Michelle S
Thank you for sharing the Pooh story. I actually remember that one! I have a good deal of “to do” lists and implementing them is something I “know” I should do.
Great points! In addition, knowledge is also useless if you do not share them to others, wholeheartedly.
For blogging, being sociable is a good way to motivate one self. The more you share useful information, the more you will be motivated.
I came over from the ProBlogger Titles project. Great post. I enjoyed it very much.
Nice job on the title. Grabbed my attention because, obviously, I disagree with it. So I was curious. well done.
Good luck in the contest.
@ Angela
Great point! Sharing and exchanging information does motivate me and of course adds to knowledge. Thanks for the added insight.
@ Miller
Thanks for the compliment. It is a pet peeve of mine to acquire knowledge then not use it. hey! I should have a pet peeve category. Probably would have the most entries!
@ Justin
Thanks for the compliment. I do like to play around with titles!
Disagree? I can’t believe that..how do you disagree?