Applying Knowledge

The human mind is a sponge that soaks up the information around it.  It allows us to think about and analyze what we see, hear, feel, smell, taste, touch, and read.  It even allows us to think about and analyze our own thoughts.  In the course of living, even outside of formal schooling, we learn so many things.  However, we don't always use the knowledge we gain to improve our lives or to live better lives.

It would be factual to say that healthy eating creates a healthy body and that unhealthy eating creates an unhealthy body.  Few people would debate that fact, but how many people work to apply that knowledge to their daily lives?  It is the not knowing how to apply that information that has created the gargantuan problem that today's society has with obesity (and consequently cancer, diabetes, etc.).  Maybe that oversimplifies the problem, but it remains a basic truth that we don't apply the things that we know in our heads to our lives.

Smoking tobacco products is another prime example of knowing that something hurts you and continuing to do it.  Most things we do to an extreme fall into this category as well, such as drinking alcohol.  In small quantities it's considered a good thing, but in larger amounts alcohol is considered something that takes years off your life.  So what is it that keeps us from creating a better life for ourselves?  Is it stupidity or laziness or indifference or unconcern or fear?

Although there are probably many reasons that people don't try to live better lives, most people don't apply what they know because they don't know how.  I am no different than any of you, I see this problem in my own life and have had enough of it.  I don't think it would be fair to try to convey to the world all that I know in my little head if I have not applied that knowledge to my life.  I can't tell you how to love or be loved if that is not something that I live.  I cannot tell you how to be thin, healthy, and beautiful if I'm overweight, pre-diabetic, and never smile.  In other words, I don't want to be a hypocritical teacher or writer.  So, being an information junkie, I searched the internet for information about applying knowledge or using what I have learned.  The search found nothing useful.

So I started thinking about what I already know about making things happen in your life or making changes to your life.  I know that real change takes real work.  I know that creating a new habit takes 21 days in a row of successfully completing that activity.  I know that bad habits somehow reward us so that we continue to do them even as they harm us.  I know that planning and goal setting helps you to know where you are trying to get to and helps you to better understand what you are trying to do.  I know that there is good research out there on the best ways to set and meet your goals (What are SMART goals? and SMART goals worksheet).  I know that if you don't plan for failures that you are planning to fail.  I know that practice makes perfect.  I know that reading your goal and related affirmations out loud many times a day helps you remember it's importance when you meet with obstacles.  I know that sometimes you have to review the situation and adjust when it's not going quite right.  I know that the people that are most important to us can be our biggest supporters and our greatest saboteurs.  I know that teaching others helps us to solidify the connections to the knowledge in our heads.

All this knowledge, I have collected from who knows where over the years, I have never used to create positive change in my life.  So I'm going to take this moment of enlightenment to use what I know and to create change in my life.  I'm going to change my behavior and bad habits.

The Steps That I Will Follow:
Step 1:  Create a plan and set a goal
Step 2:  Research for full understanding and helpful ideas
Step 3:  Predict roadblocks, speed bumps, and detours and how to get around them
Step 4:  Take a dry run (practice what you are going to do) 
Step 5:  Learn from your mistakes and adjust your goal
Step 6:  Talk to others about how you improved your life (Not preaching that your life is better, but simply commenting on your path.)

I'll try and update my audience as I move along.  But I would truly love to know if there is any proof that the direction I am thinking is wrong.  Please comment on your successes and failures in these areas.