The internet age has given us the pleasure of consuming too much information, probably more than we need.

Sometimes, I think about how people lived in the past before computers and the internet were introduced. There was no social media to get entertained, devices to watch videos on YouTube, or stream music/videos whenever they wanted. How the fuck did they manage to stay sane?

Now that we have access to all this informational and entertaining content at our fingertips (literally), life in the past seemed unimaginable.

However, the con of having this “facility” is that we rely too much on the technology and information we have. Thousands of books, podcasts, newsletters, emails, and articles provide us with knowledge. For example, if you search for “how to build good habits,” you will get thousands of results online. Most of them might say the same thing. But there will also be a lot of confusion because you don’t know which information to believe.

There is a problem of information overload. Because of that, people think that they are becoming knowledgeable. However, the truth is that knowing something isn’t enough. For instance, you can read a thousand books on cooking, but you won’t be a good cook unless you get into the kitchen and start taking the required actions to prepare food. Similarly, you can’t start a successful business by reading books, listening to podcasts, or watching a hundred YouTube videos on entrepreneurship.

Your knowledge doesn’t mean shit unless you take action. So, my friend, if you think you are doing yourself a favor by reading books or listening to podcasts, think again. Can you succeed only by doing those things? I don’t think so.

I’ve been guilty of making the same mistakes. I’ll give you a recent example. I’ve wanted to grow an audience on X (formerly known as Twitter). So, I’d read tweets from large accounts and try to understand why they succeeded on the platform. I’d watch YouTube videos about growing followers from 0 to 10,000. When I did those things, it seemed pretty straightforward. However, I could never get the results or progress because I was only consuming information and thinking I could do it. I never got my ass down and wrote tweets and followed what those videos or those successful tweeters were saying. I signed up for X Premium a few days ago and started taking action. I’m actually making progress now.

Knowledge means nothing without action.

One of the most popular internet personalities right now is Elon Musk. Oh, and he’s also the wealthiest man in the world, in case you didn’t know.

The guy has made a real impact globally and is most popularly known for SpaceX, Tesla, and The Boring Company. Imagine if Elon only read about building rockets instead of starting a company and trying to build them. Imagine if he only thought about superpowerful electric cars and didn’t do anything about them.

Musk is successful because he gained knowledge on these subjects and took action. He read engineering and design and started companies to make machines. In his case, those machines are rockets flying into space and super-efficient electric cars.

Knowledge is power. That’s not the entire truth. Knowledge is only potential power. It’s only powerful when you take action to make an impact. Knowing about business and starting a business is entirely different.

In fact, starting a business is more critical because once you get into it, you will have no choice but to obtain knowledge and learn about it.

It’s probably why people who read many books are still struggling with money, health, business, and relationships. That’s because they think they are learning something by obtaining knowledge from these books. However, they are unaware that knowing something is different than doing it. I read this tweet a while ago that went something like this: Reading 53 books a year won’t make any difference. However, reading one book a year and implementing it for 53 weeks will.

Get out of the false belief that you can become successful just because you have knowledge. It might sound confusing. But the truth is that to make a real impact and succeed, you need to convert knowledge into action. You need to utilize the learnings to achieve the bigger things you dream of.