Much is written about knowledge being power and that is still true. Yet, if individuals and businesses in today's knowledge driven economy truly wish to be successful a shift is required to being able to apply knowledge.

One of the most frequent challenges that I hear from potential and current clients whether they are small business owners or multi-billion dollar corporations is implementation or the inability to take action. These individuals have a tremendous wealth of knowledge, yet their efforts are brought to a screeching halt because of the inability to implement or to apply knowledge.

The question then arises how do you bridge this challenge. From my experiences this answer is two-fold. First, individuals need to change their belief systems that knowledge is power to applied knowledge is power. This is not easy because of the F.E.A.R. (false evidence appearing real) of failure. No one likes to fail. . However, to improve our performance (the application of knowledge) requires us to learn from our past mistakes and to move forward. John Maxwell provides great insight into overcoming the fear of failure in his book entitled "Failing Forward."

Secondly, a process needs to exist to ensure that the knowledge is applied. From my perspective, I recommend goal planning and goal achievement through a proven tool. This tool, a goal sheet, takes the knowledge and provides both a structure and a process to implement or to take action. Many individuals have a long list of dreams and goals, but far fewer consistently achieve their hopes and desires.

With the end of the year coming to an end, possibly now is the time to assess if you need to shift your paradigm to one where applied knowledge has greater power. If you haven't achieved your goals or dreams from taking that cruise to increasing sales by 50%, then ask yourself is this because of a lack of knowledge or because of the inability to apply knowledge?

Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com

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