I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time over the last decade reading all of the top books on the subjects of film producing, business, and self improvement. I could probably do a Q&A sitting in for Seth Godin or Tim Ferriss and give you the exact answers they would give because I’ve read and absorbed so much of their writing and speaking.

Yet, there I was, at the end of 2017, with a failed business and drowning in debt from holding on to that business for too long.

How does that happen?

Well, I’ll tell you.

Awareness Parading As Knowledge

I had awareness, not knowledge. Although I understood all of the principles behind growth, marketing, profit, and more, I still failed. Why? Because none of it turned into knowledge.

So, obvious question: how do we turn awareness into knowledge?

The process outlined in the greatest self-help book of all, The Book of Mormon, works.

Gaining Knowledge

First you need a desire to believe – something to hope for, a goal or an outcome. You need a picture of what you’re working towards.

Next, awareness. Study the laws that govern the thing you’re doing, whether it’s marketing, or creativity, or profit, or your personal health or finances. Everything has fundamental laws that if you don’t understand them, or act against them, you cannot succeed.

Then, you act, act, and keep acting. You put one foot in front of the other, put in an hour a day, for as long as it takes. At some point – which neither you and I can know when that point is – that action turns into knowledge at the point where the work you put in creates the desired outcome. You know have knowledge – you wrote 1,000 words a day for three months and now you have the first draft of a 90,000 word manuscript. You made 7 sales calls a day and now you have enough work to grow your business.

You may think you have all the “knowledge” in the world, but you may only have awareness. If we don’t put in the work to turn that awareness into knowledge, we’ll never know what we don’t know. That’s a scary place to be.

How well do you understand the laws that govern your goals, your business, your life? What actions are you making on a daily basis that are intended to help you reach the desired outcome? Have you seen this principle in your own life? Let me know in the comments.