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Transcript

Da Vinci's Advice About Knowledge · The Daily Writer

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider, where we share a lesson each day to help you cultivate the habits for creative success.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Here in these first couple weeks of the new year, you'll see a lot of social media posts and newsletters about all the books that people read last year.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: You can learn a lot from these posts and also pick up ideas for books that you want to read in the coming year.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Here at the Daily Writer, we are a huge advocate for not just writing books, but also for reading them.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Books are a critical facet of your growth as a writer.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be hard pressed to come across a great leader in modern history who also was not a great reader.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: However, there is a danger in focusing too much on consuming ideas but not taking action.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Reading doesn't guarantee that your life, your writing, or your business has actually improved.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, within creative and entrepreneurial circles, there is a kind of culture of consumption where each leader and influencer tries to outdo the next one by bragging about all the books they have read.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's a danger in putting too much focus on reading.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: When you finish reading a book, it feels like you've accomplished something.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: You have the illusion of progress without ever having taken action on the ideas that you just read.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: So does this mean you should stop reading?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, of course not.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: But it does mean that reading is not a magical solution.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: While it's a critical element of your success as a writer, you also have to take action on what you read.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: The great Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci warned us about this many centuries ago when he said, I have been impressed with the urgency of doing.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing is not enough.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: We must apply.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Being willing is not enough.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: We must do.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: So here's a simple suggestion.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever you read a book, choose three things you learn from the book and put them into practice immediately.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Don't move on to the next book until you do this.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: This practice will help ensure that a year from now, whenever you talk about all the books that you read in 2021, you can see how your life and your writing improved, not just because you read the books, but because you took action on what you learned.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's episode.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: For more, you can visit us at dailywriterlife.com.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much, and I'll see you tomorrow.