Two Essential Traits

A Newsletter reveals that the founders of the world's five largest companies--Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page--all share two uncommon traits: each of them is a voracious learner; each of them is a polymath. The two traits are also said to be responsible for most of the billionaire's wealth. Meaning from the foregoing, we can deduce that people who detest knowledge, who detest learning are a candidate for poverty. This espouses the assertion that a lot of people in Africa are poor because of a lack of wisdom. Call it wisdom to make wealth, to see opportunities, to create a solution, you're definitely right. Wisdom, as we know, is the right application of knowledge, and the knowledge we acquire as we learn daily. It will interest you to know it is not only poverty, moral decadence, and a dearth of values are likewise gross evidence of society with no commitment to life-long learning. We can easily affiliate this to a number of ignoramuses who troll our social spaces every day because most of them stopped learning the day they finished their final paper in school.

The word "voracious learners" means dedicating five hours per week to dedicated learning. This is not subject-based learning or learning to pass exams only, this is learning outside your area of specialization, learning across the board. Bill Gates' own estimate is that he's read one book a week for 52years, many of them having nothing to do with software or business. Interesting, isn't it? That is why Albert Einstein said, "Once you stop learning you start dying". You start dying because you have no knowledge that can translate to wealth, and wealth, as defined, is a person’s ability to survive so many numbers of days going forward (R.B. Fuller). When you become a voracious learner, you compound the value of everything you've learned in the past to achieve what you want in the present and in the future.

The second trait is being a polymath. A polymath in the sense of someone who becomes competent in at least three diverse domains and integrates them into a skill set that puts them in the top 1% of their field. You see, the days of sitting in your comfort zone with one particular skill are long behind us. The days when you only learn to sow because you're a fashion designer are bygones. We in the era of "Jack of many skills, master of all" Skills are the new currency of the labour market not certificates. The dearth of adequate skills-set is one of the setbacks to our development as a country. Our education system has been certificate-centered, not skill-centered. Our governments might have failed us, so what?  That shouldn't define our future because we are made for so much more and made to thrive. You can't afford to fail yourself because the successes of many are tied to you.

There are many uncharted territories you will have to explore. Learn tips and tricks to close skills gaps with continuous learning. You may not necessarily have to know everything about everything but make sure you something about everything. When you become a polymath, you develop the ability to combine skills, and you develop a unique skill set, which helps you develop a competitive advantage. 

These two traits if duly followed can be a life-changer for everyone. "If elements of success can be listed, then success is predictable." Macaulay Babajide Milton