Wisdom Manufacturing Process
Having said that ‘Life Maximization’ can only happen if you operate
from the level of wisdom, the next question is how can wisdom be
attained? Well, first and foremost we all need to understand that
wisdom is not an external element that can be attained, it is an
intrinsic component that needs to be manufactured from within
yourself and this process is known as the Wisdom Manufacturing
Process.
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The Wisdom Manufacturing Process has four steps :
1.
Data
2.
Information
3.
Knowledge
4.
Wisdom
Step 1
— Data
Data is what we acquire from books, audios, videos, friends, training
programmes, etc. About 95% of this data is forgotten within 24 hours
and the next 5% is gone in a week. When you read a book on sales
or leadership, or listen to an audiobook, you acquire some data. If this
data is not converted into information, it is lost forever.
Cosmetic changes certainly take place when you read a book and
most people feel overwhelmed, excited and exhilarated, but that is
where their story with the book ends. Life Maximizers, on the other
hand, don’t stop at Step 1! They take it to the next level and that is
information.
Step 2
— Information
The next step in the Wisdom Manufacturing Process is to convert
data into information. This art is practised differently by each person.
Someone may record whatever he/she has understood from a
training process. Another Life Maximizer may repeat the entire
process a hundred times to strengthen his/her understanding of it.
Your preferred method of conversion could be entirely different.
My mechanism in the last 29 years has been applying my
understanding and intellect to the data gathered and then writing over
a 100 pages about each book that I read, audio or video that I go
through or training programme that I attend, thus putting it in black
and white for future reference. As you acquire more and more data
and convert it into information, you expire your current self and rise to
the next level. Therefore, the decision to expire your current self and
renew it begins here.
Step 3
— Knowledge
After converting data into information, you need to persistently put
this information into practice and once this is done regularly, it
becomes your knowledge. Knowledge is the stage of implementation.
When you practise what you have decided, you will fail miserably
since your old self keeps fighting the new self while attempting to do
something different.
You fail, fail, fail, fail, and fail continuously, but you still persist. You
go back to your information to see where are you failing and how can
you correct yourself. After correcting yourself several times, gradually
the frequency of the failure starts reducing (as depicted in the
diagram above) and you finally touch success for the first time. This is
where you rise one step ahead of knowledge and enter the last stage
of this process.
Step 4
— Wisdom
After increasing your efforts, you may finally succeed in doing the
new action correctly, but then the cycle of failure may start again.
However, when failure turns into repeated success, the size of the
success starts becoming larger and more prominent and it is here
that knowledge finally turns into wisdom.
At this stage you know what exactly needs to be done; what
characteristics are required to win a difficult situation; how to treat
someone who is a celebrated liar and transform him/her into a truthful
person; and so on. This is where you have manufactured wisdom
within yourself in all these areas.
Wisdom when manufactured stays forever and a person who gains
wisdom on a particular subject becomes the king of that subject.
I remember when I first attended a programme by Don Beverage, I
wrote down everything that the world-renowned Life Coach had said
throughout the day, elaborating the precise notes that I had made,
thus converting my data into information. Not only did I jot down what
I had understood, but I also wrote what I learnt from his words and
the benefits I could derive from it. While I was converting this data
into information, I gave myself the commandment that I would
implement everything I have learnt today, chapter-by-chapter in my
life, and charted an action plan to achieve this target. I also
purchased the manuscript and with my notes I imbibed every learning
into my most unconscious psyche. With great pride and thrill I can tell
you that till today, 20 years later, I practise every word written in that
book.
In the 1990s, I attended a programme called ‘LIFE — Living in
Freedom and Enquiry’ and a seven-day sequel called The Existential
Laboratory’ conducted by Swami Sukhabodhananda in a residential
camp surrounded by greenery. We stayed in tents and didn’t have
electricity at night. I went against the rules of the workshop that
strictly prohibited any participant from staying awake beyond a certain
time in the evening, and I covered myself with a bedsheet and for
hours I wrote down my key takeaways from the day-long course, thus
converting the data that I acquired into information. And today those
learnings have become my deep-rooted wisdom!
I jotted down my thoughts when I attended the MILT Leadership
Course and the MILT Sales Course by Aporesh Acharya, Dianetics by
Helmut Flasch, and other such programmes. The audiobook on goal
setting by Zig Ziglar which I heard in 1985, various books by Tom
Hopkins, Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, Dan Sullivan that I have read over
the years and the audios and videos of Joel Barker that I have been
an ardent follower of, are all present in my study in the form of heaps
and heaps of pages I wrote about each one of them. Today they are
all part of my wisdom!
In the table given below, write down four key learnings that you
have gained from the above concept, the actions you will take to
permanently imbibe it in your life along with the deadlines and
the help you will require.
No.
Learnings
Actions you will lake to
imbibe this in your life
Whose help will you
require
Deadline
l
2
3
4
The best way to learn is to teach. Speak about this concept to
every human being you meet over the next one week and see if
you can introduce this term ‘Declare your expiry date’ in your
vocabulary.
One needs to manufacture wisdom in all aspects of life, i.e. sales,
leadership, marketing, branding, team building, people management,
punctuality, behaviour, personality, the way you dress, walk, talk, etc.
and all areas of your personal and professional interest. When you
operate from your wisdom, you will be able to expire your current self
and keep renewing it from time-to-time, thus rising to the next level.
In order to maximize life for a lifetime, you need to give this order,
this instruction, this directive, this mandate, this law of God, this
commandment everyday, every hour, every minute of your life —
Declare your expiry date!