Photo and blog by Sharman Dow
“Cease listening to instruction, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.” –Proverbs 19:27
Knowledge is having the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experiences or association. It is providing yourself with a range of information and drawing a solid understanding of the matter. Having knowledge increases your intelligence and the ability to discern the truth. Embracing knowledge is a process of educating yourself to make thoughtful decisions and having a discerning insight for a positive outcome, benefitting your future.
Knowledge can be gained, but it’s a matter of disciplining yourself to stretch and be willing to change. God gives each one of us opportunities to learn, and it’s up to us to capitalize on those occasions. Many times He will open a door to help you in your career, but it’s up to you to take advantage of those instances that are right before your eyes. Are you willing to change in order to benefit your career? In your business career it is essential to embrace knowledge in order to accelerate and promote your current position. If you are not willing to train and expand your knowledge, then you will hinder yourself in your career. In other words, you will find your unwillingness to learn new things and increase your knowledge will thwart your chances of getting ahead and taking your career to the next level. It’s a decision only you can make.
Everyone has a career path they have either chosen or fallen into by chance. When I was young I fell into many different career paths. I had no real knowledge of any one thing and the only thing I looked for was a job that would pay me. I will never forget convincing a small business owner I could run his office and manage his books. I knew absolutely nothing about bookkeeping and yet he hired me to manage it all. I think he liked my smile and my willingness to work for such a low wage — most likely the latter was more true.
Anyway, there I was sitting in the front office answering phones, managing the schedules of the workers and doing all the bookkeeping. My first real test came when I had to do the payroll of about 10 different people. I was sweating bullets, but then I got the brilliant idea of just copying the previous payroll records. I got by with this for a few weeks, but it was not long before I had to make some real calculations; a lot of the field personnel did overtime and their payrolls varied from week to week.
Fortunately for me, my boss’ CPA took me under his wing and taught me how to manage the accounts receivables and payables and do the payroll calculations. I gained knowledge by mentoring under the very person who needed me to get it right so his job would become easier. It would have been easy to quit and find another job that was not as difficult, but I did not let my lack of knowledge hinder my growth. Instead, I sought someone who would teach me so I could grow in my knowledge of the job.
It was from that point on I knew I could learn anything if I set my mind to it. It was learning that job that helped me increase my knowledge and create a better future for myself. Years later when I finally got into insurance and found a real career path, it became extremely helpful that I understood bookkeeping; in time I ultimately owned my own insurance agency. Having the knowledge of bookkeeping became a useful tool in owning my own business. You never know where God may lead you to learn something new and use that information to better your career years later.
How about you? Is there someone in your life who can teach you something to get ahead? Or, perhaps there are some webinars you can take to increase your knowledge. I know one thing, the Empower Women’s Conference this October will be a great opportunity to learn from other business women who are successful because they embraced knowledge, too!
Sharman Dow is the founder of the Empower Women’s Conference, coming October 22nd to Orange County. Register today!
