Why Can’t Education Give You Knowledge?

At the time of the ancient Egyptians, education was an expensive proposition. Most often, only boys received schooling, starting from around the age of five and ending when they reached their teens. If a family couldn't afford to send their son to school, then when he was old enough, he would go to work with his father and learn his trade.

Schools were usually attached to temples and government offices and children were taught by the priests. Young students learned hieratic script, practicing their writing on broken bits of pottery or wooden boards. Papyrus was considered far too expensive to use just for practice! Older students studied hieroglyphs, math, history, languages, geography, astronomy, and law, as well as gymnastics and good manners!

FACT: Knowledge is POWER!

Nowadays, formal or self-education can still be quite expensive, but investing in yourself to acquire knowledge is the best investment you could ever make.

As Plato said, “Knowledge is the food of the soul.”

On one side, people who go to college often don’t continue to actively seek knowledge once they’ve finished their formal education. On the other side, people who couldn’t afford to go to college in the first place often think that they have no chance to succeed in life because they didn’t have enough education.

Both sides are wrong! Why?

Simply because there is a BIG difference between information and knowledge. Even Albert Einstein once said that “information is not knowledge.”

Education may give you tons of information, but it doesn’t necessarily give you knowledge. Therefore, formal education is not enough to succeed in life, and having no formal education simply doesn’t matter. What really matters is the APPLICATION of the information received!

Applied information is the TRUE KNOWLEDGE. As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

Information alone doesn’t lead to results—if it is not applied, it becomes merely wasted potential. You only achieve true knowledge and wisdom when you apply the information you gain in the real world.

There are an infinite number of sources of information in the world. One is formal education, of course. But there are plenty of other sources, such as the internet, books, audio CDs, DVDs, seminars, and magazines, just to name a few. You can acquire information just about anywhere. But you can acquire knowledge ONLY through application and experience. Our friend Albert Einstein also said, “The only source of knowledge is experience.”

And then there’s the power of SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE—knowledge in its most powerful form. Specialized knowledge is when you have in-depth knowledge of a particular field that you have acquired through years of experience in a very specific niche. You know you have achieved ultimate knowledge when you become the “go-to” expert in a certain field. And that specialized knowledge makes you the most valuable person you can be.

Try NOT to be a jack of all trades!

It is never too late to acquire knowledge. To maximize your personal value and contribution to the world, you need to acquire information and put it into action. Only then will you have TRUE knowledge and value. And to give your knowledge the maximum impact and power, SPECIALIZE. Know everything there is to know about a specific niche. Develop as much experience as you can in that one field so that your value will go through the roof and you’ll be unmatched.

Follow the Pharaohs’ code and don’t hold back from INVESTING in yourself!