It's Not A Learning Problem

Hey, what's up? This is Tim Pratt Jr. I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this content today. I hope you hear something that has value to your life, shaping your perspective, faith, and hope, as well as the application to see it through on this thing that we call life. Enjoy. What's up everybody? So this is episode 6 of season 2, and the title of this one, it's, it's not a learning problem. And within this episode, I don't believe it to be any scriptures. I mean, I might have some faith-based references, but No scriptures in this one because I just want to talk to you as you basically go and set up your year. And one of the biggest goals is to read more and more books. And of course, that has become a lot easier with audiobooks out there and then other services you can subscribe to that will give you, you know, key point summaries and things like that, like 15 minutes or less, uh, of overviews of books. And you get into a debate of physical versus you know, audio. And I do think some have their pros and cons, but one thing for me that I've done lately to just kind of keep me honest— because man, I was just buying audiobook after audiobook, and that really taught me that like a lot of these books sound a lot alike. And I'm gonna kind of save where I'm gonna transition into, uh, because I really want you to like understand the concept of this episode. Uh, but with that being said, for me it is like My top 5 books, I have the physical and audio if the audio is out there, uh, but because it's just so much I take from them books and I spend so much time with them. And one of them, like I said, one of my favorite of all time is The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy that came out, I believe, about 10 years ago. And although that book, you know, is 10 years old, I would still recommend it to the student that's coming out of high school right now, or just, you know, anybody in general that wants to give it a chance, because it's like one of those timeless wisdom books, you know, like the Jim Rohn style of speaking and teaching and writing that it's just— it's going to follow you, I believe, for the age of time. So with that being said, this episode is— it's not learning— it's not a learning problem. And, you know, often when I talk to people, or, you know, starting with myself, like I say, one of the biggest goals is to read more, read more, which is true. I feel like we should read a lot, but in reading a lot, I feel like we have to keep in mind that we have to study a lot and we have to implement what we're reading and, you know, studying. Because without implementing it, how do you know you're actually applying it, as well as like, is it working? And so this is where I feel like we get into that game of like reading book, we want the next book, the next book to tell us 10 steps to do this, and then it's 5 steps to do this, and then it's, oh, you know, change your life today, you know. And just, I'm just throwing, you know, random stuff out there, but that's kind of what it is, you know. Or more, more money today, you know, then the next book is more money tomorrow, and just on and on and on. So it's like, and I'm not knocking getting that content, like I said, because reading is very good and very, you know, great, and it opens our mind and things like that. But what I also am saying is that you have to be very careful that you're not flushing out what you just read in one book as you jump on to the next. That's why I kind of challenge that notion and disagree with a book a week. Maybe you should read the same book over and over, you know, 52 books a year. But I'm more so now the person where I try to do 1 or 2 books a month, to just be honest with you. And a lot of times it's starting to be redundant because as we progress in life, I mean, just like the Bible, you know, as I read it and I study it, 2 years from now it's gonna just— the Lord is gonna like— the revelation is gonna be different. So we can't like treat books just because, oh man, I read that before, you you know, yeah, it was a good book. No, go back and read it because you're gonna start seeing things through a new lens and it's gonna help you. And then the fact that what I really like about it is that you already kind of have a relationship in the context of, you know, knowing certain passages within that book. So it's just like, you can kind of skim, you're like, okay, I remember that concept, you know, but then it leads you to like, for me, just using myself as an example, like I, you know, skim through maybe 1 or 2 chapters, but I go like back to chapter 3 and it's like, oh my God, like this is what I really needed. But I would have missed it, you know, if I just would have, like I say, treated that book like, man, whatever, uh, I'm on to the next, I've read 4 or 5 other books like it. But you can read something like it and it don't still be in the context of what that book gave you. And so implementation, like I say, is very important. And this led me to, like, you know, starting to understand, like, the mind that we— our minds, we have, like, well filled minds. Like, the filling of our minds in today's society is great. I mean, just look at Google. Like, now, right now, somebody text me something, I can just like say, you know, hey Siri, and my phone will go off. And you know, just stuff like that. And it'll go find it on Google or whatever. And I just, you know what I'm saying, like, I didn't really have to— I didn't really know it. It's because I basically had access to it. Because access, you know, information— now we live in the information age, so it's so readily, you know, available to us. And so our minds are consistently being filled with information. But when you really think about it, are they— do we have— do we have well-formed minds? The forming of our minds is what's basically going to set us apart, and that's going to come from, like I say, studying and spending time with the content and going back to implementing, you know, the application of it. This leads us to basically like, you know, being able to review. So when I pick up, you know, say things like I'm reading a leadership book, you know, John C. Maxwell is one of the most referred to leadership experts out there, 80-something plus books. And in all honesty, I love John C. Maxwell content, but it is a lot of redundancy in them. And it's like certain ones, like, well, I could have really just stayed with this one, you know, instead of just buying a whole new book and going through it. So say, once I go back to that, that book that I should have just really spent some time with, now I'm reading it, I'm studying it, I'm implementing it. And now as I implement, I'm reviewing those things, basically making them, you know. And this is like in the transition, this is like in between the implementing and reviewing stage. When you implement, you're not doing it the way you exactly read it. In most cases, it's just you're implementing in a way that works for you, and then you review that, and then you make tweaks to it. And these tweaks is what leads to like the improvement. And then over time, you just become one with it. And so now you're actually doing it, you're actually accomplishing, you're seeing the results that you want to see.. But you can't do that when you consistently are just focused on, well, let me read the next, let me read the next to hit my reading goal, because it's flushing so much out if you're not careful. I mean, just like, think about it, when was the last time you went back and just really studied your notes? Like, whether they be by hand or electronic or whatever, like, just go say, man, I'm gonna take a week and just go through my notes and spend time. And some of us got enough notes to write the next great book to preach the next great message, give the next great talk, to, you know, lead a small group, whatever you want to say by the grace of God. But we don't spend no time in them, we just jot it down and move on to the next. So like I say, learning isn't the problem, it's our studying and the application of what we've learned, because that's what's going to basically take our minds from being filled into basically shaping and forming them. So when you see, like, you you know, up on stage or you get the opportunity, you're prepared for it. You don't have the time to say, well, let me Google this, or let me go look this up real quick. I mean, I see people put up statuses all the time, and I've been like this, and I'm like, dang, that's a very intelligent person. But then if I— when I meet them, I'm like, you know, they're having a hard time like articulating the way they articulate when they write and put up a status. And that really just comes from that. That lets me know that like, okay, it's nothing wrong. Yeah, the statuses are great, you know, that they're putting up and all this type of stuff, but it also lets me know that their mind is not formed well. Like, it's filled, but it's not formed right. And so just spend some time thinking about that. Like making sure that you are in the content. And like I say, you are just studying and implementing it, and that's what's going to lead to you being able to basically, like I say, become one with the text. You know, my dad is real big— it's really both of them say, like, you know, anybody can teach and preach the gospel, but you have to live it in order to become one with it. And so take that same principle and apply it to your life with the books that you read and when you're out there learning. Hey, thank you so much for listening to this content today. I want to encourage you, if you haven't already, to subscribe to it and share it with family and friends on your social media feeds. And you can also go over to www.timothyprattjr.org in order to find out more about the blog as well as other things that I offer. On how to connect with me. So with that being said, I hope you have a blessed day and continue to see this thing through that we call life.