It’s not what you know, it’s what you do with what you know that drives success.
Thinking, more than skill, drives what you can accomplish. Certainly, talent gives a person an advantage.  But that is just the start of the equation.  Talent alone will not drive consistent results.  That comes from knowing how to use the talent that you have.

There are only five golf players who have won all four of the modern majors during their career, called a career grand slam.  Gary Player is one of those.  Along with success in playing the game, he designed 325 golf courses around the world, and authored 36 books on golf.  His thought on what it takes to be successful in golf is summed up this way, “We create success or failure on the course primarily by our thoughts.”

Two of the other four players to win the career grand slam are Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan. They share similar views on the importance of thinking over only skill.

“A lot of guys can go out and hit a golf ball, but they have no idea how to manage what they do with the ball.  I’ve won as many tournaments hitting the ball badly as I have hitting the ball well.” – Jack Nicklaus

“Golf is 20 percent talent and 80 percent management.” – Ben Hogan

It’s not just what you learn, it’s how you make it part of what you do that matters.  Reading a book, attending a conference, completing a course are all great ways to learn new material.  Unless you take away specific action items that you implement right away, these were just enjoyable past times.

Those that are the most successful decide on a small number of changes or enhancements to make in their process while the learning is fresh in their mind.

“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.” – John Locke

Be willing to change your thinking.  Not all learning is planned.  Sometimes you will learn the most during a time when things are not going right and your prior thoughts did not bring you success.  While your main focus will be on getting back on track, never waste an opportunity to gather new information and make it part of how you proceed the next time.

“Difficult times disrupt your conventional ways of thinking and push you to forge better habits of thought.” – Robin S. Sharma