Episode 984: Learn It All

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 984 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:07] Wendy Gentry: This is Wendy Gentry from baker university. I encourage you to live your life from the inside out. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.

[00:00:22] Scott Maderer: knowledge is power. Isn't actually true knowledge put into action is power. Knowledge by itself is just fuel for the engine. But the engine actually has to be turned on and run and things have to happen. For you to actually put those things into action for you to actually get something done for you to actually make things happen.

[00:00:49] Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your [00:01:00] time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast. Go learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:15] In today's episode about investing in others through stewarding your talent. I talk with you about why being a learn. It all is a great idea. I also share how this often can make you seem like you're a know it all instead. And I talk about why learning by itself is never enough. You've heard me talk about developing your talent.

[00:01:39] And one of the best ways to do that is through books. But if you're like most people today, it's hard to find the time to read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible. Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over [00:02:00] 180,000 titles to choose from.

[00:02:02] And you can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents via. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast. And Monday's episode, Kyle mentioned being a, learn it all instead of a know it all. And I loved that phrasing.

[00:02:26] That thought of being a lifelong learner, being someone that wants to learn it all. And in fact, I would describe myself as a learner. Back in the days when I was teaching school, the kids used to come and ask me various questions. And oftentimes I would know the answer. And when I didn't know the answer, I would say, I don't know, but I can figure it out.

[00:02:49] Let me go figure it out for you. And I still do that now as a coach. And I did that when I was a leader for ETS, I've always had the attitude of. I [00:03:00] either know it, or if I don't know it, I'll go figure it out. I'll go find it out and then I'll bring it back and I'll teach it or share it or provide it for others because I've always been a lifelong learner.

[00:03:12] I've always someone that's been fascinated with books and learning. And in fact, I used to get the reputation. Whenever I was a leader, people would come in with a problem and they would say, okay, I know you're going to recommend a book for me to read, but other than that, here's the problem I have. And what else do I need?

[00:03:29] Because literally every time they came in, they left with a book recommendation almost all of the time, because there's always great books out there. I've had the reputation for a long time of reading between 50. To 52 books a year. Now, the last couple of years I've backed off from that because I'm focusing on putting some things into implementation phase, but starting next year, I plan on setting that goal again, of reading a book a non-fiction book a week and having that for a [00:04:00] goal next year.

[00:04:01] So all of these things are about being a learn. It all. The funny thing is though, oftentimes when you do that, You get a reputation of instead being a know it all and know it all has a negative connotation. It has this feeling that if you're a know it all, then you are someone that Lourdes your knowledge over others.

[00:04:27] You are so happy with yourself for being somebody that knows everything that you have to show off your knowledge. And the truth is that is something that I will admit there have been phases in my life where I've been not alerted all, but a know it all. I've been focused on learning so that I would know everything and could quote, be the smartest person in the room.

[00:04:51] And what I've learned over the years is instead if I focus on finding out what do other people know that I don't know. [00:05:00] And getting them to teach it to me. Then I learned even more than I did before. So sometimes I've learned to keep my mouth shut, even if I know something because there's someone else around there, someone else in the room, someone else in the meeting that knows even more than I do.

[00:05:19] And it's also allowed me to stop having quite as much of a reputation of being a know it, all the person that always knows the answer and just jumps right out and tells everybody this is the way it is instead of listening first and asking more questions. The truth is to, I mentioned earlier, I've always had a goal of reading 50 to 52 books a year non-fiction books.

[00:05:44] And I mentioned that this last year, I've changed that. And the last two years, actually, I've been reading a little less part of the reason I'm reading less is because I'm focusing on putting things that I've learned over the last 20 or 30 years [00:06:00] into action. I'm focusing on implementation of learning because at the end of the day, being alerted all isn't enough, unless you also begin to become a do at all.

[00:06:14] Where you either do it yourself or you get it done, but you also focus on putting, learning into action because at the end of the day it's action that actually moves things forward. Not knowledge is power. Isn't actually true knowledge put into action is power. Knowledge by itself is just fuel for the.

[00:06:42] But the engine actually has to be turned on and run and things have to happen for you to actually put those things into action for you to actually get something done for you to actually make things happen. You have to put the learning into action. [00:07:00] So what are you doing to become a lifelong learner?

[00:07:03] What are you doing to put learning into your life? And then what are you doing to put that learning into. Do you need an accountability partner? Do you need more knowledge? Do you need more skill? Often we misidentify that too. We think what we need is more knowledge when in fact what we need is more accountability around getting something done.

[00:07:26] So focus in and figure out what is really holding you back from living your calling, and then put into action, a plan to fill that gap so that you can move forward. And do what God has called you to do. Thanks for listening.

[00:07:44] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live [00:08:00] your call. If you liked this episode on the stewardship of talent, you can go over to inspired stewardship.com/talent and sign up for our five week series on the stewardship of talent.

[00:08:15] Or if you're in the us, you can text 4, 4, 2, 2, 2 talent tips. That's talent tips to 4 4 2, 2, 2, and get those tips until next time. Invest your time. Your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact the world.