Do You Know How Much Power You Actually Have?
The keywords are “Do You Know”
To know that we are powerful, we have to know that we hold power. As much as this is a tongue-twister, it really isn’t. In a nutshell, we can all be given a smart device. If we don’t know how to use it, we are no different from before.
This is the point I would like to make in this story. How powerful are we, today?
To answer that, we need to go back to our past.
When I Was Much Younger.
When I was much younger (well, actually in the 1980s), I had to find my own way to school, to Granddad’s place about 4 streets down, and finding my way to the grocery store.
As weird as it might sound, I actually had to find my own way. No one taught me anything. I went around on foot, street after street, to explore the roads and the buildings.
Days after, the brain seemed to have created new connections in terms of visual recognition. Landmarks start appearing in my head, and I start to expect what I will see at this turn or that junction.
The power I had then was the willingness to roam around (Yes, I love to!), to roam around further and further each day so I could expand the edges of the neighborhood map in my mind.
Power comes in the form of committed memory and spatial recognition.
Today, life is a tad easier. Technology applications have taken away the need for spatial memory. Need to find a place? Tap on Google Map. Done.
This is immense power. When I was a toddler, not knowing where I was is a scary thing. The ability to navigate fails when landmarks are lost or when we lost our North Star.
Sailors without navigation tools have to rely on Celestial Stars for guidance. When there are no stars, everywhere is the same. Probably every current feels the same too.
Fast Forward — 30 Years Later.
Today, navigation tools such as Google Map is everywhere. Meaning, they follow us where we go as they are an application in our smartphones. I doubt anyone goes out there without their devices.
To harness that level of power contained in a box, we still need to learn how to read maps. This generation no longer needs to register spatial memory the way I did.
The important thing today is to be able to interpret it and act upon the information we received.
I can give you a map. The real question is — Can you navigate?
Application of Knowledge Is Real Power.
One thing is for sure.
If we do not know how to read maps, we will not know how to find our way. It will be the case whether we are born in the Middle Ages or the Information Age.
Circling back to the topic. We already have the power to access information at our fingertips. The real power will only be unleashed when we can tap onto that power for our utility.
Do You Agree?
Aldric
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About the Author:
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure.
Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.
Because simplicity adds value.
And with clarity — We grow.
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