I recently came across a good quote I hadn’t read in quite a long time and it spoke to something I agree with, which is the importance of being a lifetime learner. I was cleaning out some old emails and the quote was in an email from a friend. The quote brought to mind a truth: continuous learning and training makes for a better and more interesting life and work place.

The quote is “Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them.”  It is by Buckminster Fuller, who has been described as an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, critic of work, and futurist. What an interesting description for a man who, among many other activities and accomplishments, was a prolific writer, invented the geodesic dome, and was a president of Mensa, the organization for people with genius level IQs. I think his quote is correct on many levels. 

We all have potential, but realizing potential takes work, continuous work.  We all know intelligent people who are disinterested in learning or otherwise do not apply themselves, evidencing the truth that intelligence is not a predictor of success. Learning and applying yourself provides a better chance of improvement, let alone success.

The time to step up is today. It already is February, but it’s not too late to come up with a plan. What should you learn? Well that depends on what you do and what will help you do what you do. The first step you should take is to come up with ideas and make a choice on the first step based on what speaks to you. This could be reading a business book, taking a course online or at a local community college, or finding a mentor. The options are endless and depend on you to make the choice.

Do something, because the right choice is to do something and stop the de-genius process!