“I have a dream …”
~ Martin Luther King
What a beautiful quote, in honor of this fine man, as we continue our contemplations on “Thinking and Growing Rich” and The 4th Principle of Success or Specialized Knowledge.
Wikipedia says of King’s early life that he was “a precocious student, skipping both the ninth and the twelfth grades and entered Morehouse College at age fifteen without formally graduating from high school.” It’s worth taking a moment to read King’s bio on Wikipedia, noting the Principles of Success that King, like Gandhi, possessed: Specialized knowledge being one of them!
So did anyone other than me spend some time yesterday thinking about their own personal brain-stuff ??
Napoleon Hill writes: “Knowledge will not attract money, unless it is organized and directed through practical plans for the specific accumulation of money.”
If you believe “knowledge is power,” Hill says you are totally wrong!!! Knowledge is only potential power. It must be organized into definite plans of action and directed to a definite end. And he claims this is the missing link in our primary educational system, which does not teach us how to do this.
I wholeheartedly agree with this concept. I’ve mentioned it before, that high school was of little benefit to me. Outside of my bookkeeping class, which on the advice of my grandmother, I took outside of my college-prep courses, I learned very little of value. How much do you recall of algebra, chemistry, english literature? High School did, however, instill in me the desire and discipline to learn. I would graduate 2nd in my class, but not without considerable effort. I’m not a genius 😉
I was fortunate to acquire an outstanding secondary education. My father insisted that the schooling I receive not be generalized. One of the things I love about Cornell University is that it’s divided into 7 schools of study. Cornell does offer a more general Arts & Sciences Degree, but if one wishes to start specializing early, the remaining 6 schools offer that opportunity. I began in their Industrial & Labor Relations School, where I started to be a lawyer or mediator. I ended in their Hotel & Restaurant Administration Program, where I learned a very diversified curriculum in business practices and food arts & science. Other schools included: Human Ecology, Architecture, Agriculture & Life Sciences, Engineering, and Architecture, Art, & Planning.
Education, Hill writes, comes from the Latin word Educe: to draw out or to develop from within.
“An educated person is not necessarily one who has an abundance of general or specialized knowledge. An educated person is one who has so developed the faculties of their mind that he or she may acquire anything they want, or it’s equivalent, without violating the rights of others.”
I am very grateful for my specialized education, not only for the practical courses, but that it taught me self-confidence, and how to take an idea and run with it.
I excelled at my first job as a consultant with Kenneth Leventhal & Company with my specialized knowledge in using spreadsheets, which I had learned in college. Through my work there, I learned to create computerized business plans and to evaluate real estate and workout plans for some of the most successful corporations in America. I took this knowledge and convinced the largest computer manufacturers in the world to authorize me as their dealer, when they had very little interest in the Caribbean. With much persistence, I created a computer business from an idea and a piece of paper.
Of note here: When I started PC Paradise, I knew very little about the mechanics of computers. What if we need more specialized knowledge than we have the ability or inclination to acquire?? Don’t let that stop you. I didn’t. Still to this day, I do not consider myself a computer specialist. I consider myself a business woman with better than average computer skills.
Hill says that what we need to do in this situation – when we don’t have all the answers or skills ourselves – is to bridge our weakness through the aid of a “Master Mind” group: The co-ordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people for the attainment of a definite purpose. This is exactly what I’ve done all my life! I’ve taken an idea, and with the help of a select few, I’ve directed and grown businesses. It is not essential that we have this knowledge in our own mind.
I took my specialized knowledge in the real estate and hotel fields, and was able to convince a woman to sell me a home with very little money down and with owner financing. I had a dream! I took this opportunity and turned the “free” real estate into a money making venture. I used the computer skills I had learned to market myself in an emerging “villa rental by owner” market. I used the assistance of others to make improvements on the property. I took an initial investment of $10,000 and someday will hopefully walk away with enough money to retire on.
I do not tell these stories for their bragging rights. I tell these stories to convince you that if I have the faculties of mind to “think and grow rich”, so do you.
Hill writes “Both success and failure are largely the results of habit … We rise to high positions or remain at the bottom because of conditions we control. But only if we desire to control them.”
What of my plant-based food skills, blog and passion? In a conversation with a friend just the other day, I came to the realization that I have not put a “definite plan” behind my blogging. I’ve just been blogging to share and create community. It might just be time to set some goals here, to create an offering …. to turn specialized knowledge into gold.
It just depends on where I choose to FOCUS my efforts and creativity !!
What of my fledgling consulting business, Lifting Limitations …??
“Specialized knowledge is more abundant and more easily acquired than Ideas. Because of this truth, there are ever-increasing opportunities for the person capable of helping men & women sell their personal ideas & services.”
Now, if that sentence doesn’t make an impact (for me especially), none will 🙂
“There is no fixed price for sound ideas !!”
