I read the Bible last week. The whole thing from cover to cover…and I’m already seeing tremendous improvements. The book I read was Dave Pelz’s Putting Bible: The Complete Guide to Mastering the Green. It’s a golf book. Probably not the Bible you were thinking about.
There’s a golf course nearby with a driving range that I’ve been going to almost every day for the past month. I usually spend an hour there hitting a large bag of golf balls or putting. Sometimes I spend two hours there. I love it. If I could, I would probably spend all day there. I’d hit a large bag of balls, putt, chip, play 18 holes, and then probably practice more to work on whatever aspect of my game was weakest that day. Someday soon I’m going to travel around the world and play the best golf courses. That’s one of my goals.
The thing I love about golf, or any sport really, is the immediate feedback. You stroke a putt and you either make it or you miss it. It’s black and white. Succeed or fail. Then you keep practicing until you make every putt even though you know that day will never come. But you get better and better the more you practice until you reach a point where you make most of the putts. If success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal, then seeing incremental improvement in your putting stroke over time is success. Maybe you have different goals and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Do you have a passion outside of your business? Are you working toward a goal other than just amassing the biggest fortune possible? What will you do with all that money? Something fun, enjoyable, and worthwhile I trust. I hope you’re not just slaving away day after day without a larger purpose than acquiring financial wealth. Maybe your passion isn’t golf and that’s fine with me because most golf courses are already too crowded but it would be sad if you’re not working toward some bigger goal.
Since I read the putting Bible (and more importantly applied what I learned), I have seen my putting improve noticeably and a few things struck me about this example that apply to an Internet business.
#1. Information Alone is Useless
I actually bought this book several years ago, put it on a shelf, and let it sit. It’s in a box in a storage shed right now with a lot of other books. All those years, the book has done me no good just like any books or courses you might have bought and never studied about making money on the Internet. Information alone is useless. You actually have to make the effort to read the book, listen to the tape, or watch the video before you’ll derive any benefit.
#2. There is No Good Excuse for Doing Nothing
Last week when I was at the library I walked over to the golf books, found this one, and checked it out. It didn’t cost a dime. The library is full of information on books and tapes that you can check out for free. You’ll probably find dozens of books on any topic sitting on the shelves of your local library. So if you can’t afford to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for the latest “get rich quick” course, that’s probably a good thing, but it’s a pathetic excuse for not taking action. All you have to do is go to the library and check out some books on the topic for free.
#3. Consider the Source
As hackers go, I’m not such bad putter to begin with but I’m a bit surprised at how quickly my putting has improved. The putting Bible is almost 400 pages long. I was bit skeptical at first. I mean how much can there be to putting? You stroke the putt and watch it roll. But there turns out to be a lot more to it that I never thought of and the putting Bible goes into excruciating detail. But the best part is the practice drills. When you understand the theory behind putting and follow the practice drills you can’t help but see results quickly. Small changes can make a big difference in results.
The same holds true for an Internet business. You might see marginal improvements from just randomly trying new things but you’ll see rapid improvements when you listen to someone who knows what they’re talking about. Take linking for example. I’ve been building links to this blog for over a year and I’ve seen my rankings gradually improve but only to a certain point. Several months ago, Fred Black mentioned something specific about linking to me…the importance of the anchor text. Considering Fred’s blog has been ranked at or near #1 for the highly competitive search term “internet business” for several months, he knows what he’s talking about. I finally followed his advice and my rankings continue to improve.
For years I’ve been listening to advice from golfers who don’t know any more than I do and they’re probably worse putters. Similarly I’ve gotten a lot of bad advice on how to improve rankings over the years. In both cases, I recently sought out someone who has demonstrated expertise and followed their advice. It’s no surprise that in both cases my results improved quickly.
#4. Wisdom is not Enough
Wisdom is worth more than gold & silver…but only if you apply it. I read “The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords” last week and I learned a few things but most of it I already knew. It involves some science (testing & tracking until you get statistically significant results) but it’s not rocket science. It takes time & effort to succeed at PPC just like anything else and up until now I was basically too lazy to get off my butt and do what I knew I should be doing. It’s as simple as that. Reading books is not enough. Acquiring wisdom is not enough. You must apply your wisdom before you’ll see any improvement. Then you can enjoy your success by spending more time at the golf course or wherever you choose to spend your time.
This seems like the perfect opportunity to mention Doug Kercher. Doug is an Australian PGA golf professional who reads this blog. When I first heard from him a few months ago, I was a bit envious to say the least. He even does his best to give me golf tips via email which I appreciate. In any event, Doug has a golf blog and golf information product. There are a lot of golf products but how many of them were created by a PGA professional? If you promote golf products, you might want to contact Doug.Doug…when are you going to start posting to that blog again? I sent you several questions and I have lots more. I’m a sponge for that kind of stuff.
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2 Comments
Hi Robert:
When I read the title of the post “Wisdom Is Not Enough”, I was wondering what this is all about … after reading the post, I think it is an excellent article.
I definitely agree that wisdom is not enough.
I actually have a copy of the book “The Ultimate Guide To Google Adwords” and it’s been collecting dust on my shelf for a while too.
When I bought it I used it for about a month and then just kind of gave up because it required testing and tracking effort.
But now I am ready to put that wisdom to work. So, perhaps we can keep an eye on each other, what do you say?
[Kingsley,
Good point. I wonder how many people have given up on something because it required effort. Probably too many. I've given up on some things myself because I wasn't willing to put forth the effort. Success is pretty simple but it requires effort and it's not easy.
Robert]
I really enjoyed this post, it reminds me that we can always take a book on one topic and pick out true gems for use in an unrelated field.
I used a book on Hamlet for a management class that I was teaching and people thought I was joking when I walked in the room, but they were not laughing at the end of the class - I found my gems.
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