In July 1519, Hernán Cortés a Spanish colonist set unto the sunny beaches of today’s Vera Cruz in Mexico with 550 soldiers. He instantly declared he was an Emissary from the King of Spain and demanded to see the ruler of the Aztec Empire, Emperor Montezuma. The Aztecs had not seen white men before and didn’t know what to do with them. Some Aztecs thought these must be gods. Others argued that they were demons, or the ghosts of the dead, or powerful sorcerers. But the Spaniards knew who the Aztecs were, people, they could deceive and enslave because of lack of information.
Anyways, the Aztecs gave them food, shelter, and guidance to reach the Capital to meet Emperor Montezuma. When Cortés met the Emperor, he gave the order and the guards were slaughtered. The Emperor was taken hostage and became a prisoner of the Spaniards.
Cortés proceeded to rule the entire Empire through the captured Emperor until more soldiers came and the people of Aztecs were colonized and enslaved.
Inca Empire
Ten years after the capture of the Aztecs, Pizarro arrived on the shore of the Inca Empire. He had far fewer soldiers than Cortés – his expedition numbered just 168 men! But he had read and had acquired information of what Cortés did in Spain.
Again, the Inca, in contrast, knew nothing about the fate of the Aztecs. Pizarro plagiarized Cortés and captured the people of the Incas. Yes, you guessed it, he declared “I am an Emissary from King of Spain. Take me to your leader”. When the meeting was set the Leader of the Incas was captured and taken hostage. Eventually, all the people were colonized and became slaves.
What does all of this have to do, with information? I’m glad you asked.
Both the Aztecs and Incas had no idea there were other people on this earth even though the Spaniards had enslaved Cuba. They were only concerned about their lives and their knowledge was limited to their culture. In contrast, the Spaniards could read, write and send letters across ships to Spain. So they sent letters and information to Spain about the vast Gold and Treasures in the Americas as well as the ignorance of the natives. Thus, two large Empires were enslaved and destroyed through lack of information.
Present Day
Now let’s fast forward to the present. In my opinion, there are only two things that separate you from an “average” life and one of abundance in wealth: Information and Ownership. We have dealt with ownership in our post on – Why Ownership is Key in Building The Wealth You Want?
Let’s now tackle information. There is no way around it. We can not be happy with what we know and ignore everything else. Just like the Aztecs and Incas, it is the path to slavery. There is no difference between those who cannot read and those who don’t read.
We have to read. Period. There is no gray area.
BackBenchers
Now I know. I know. The backbenchers are saying. I know Professors in University who read all day but they have “average” lives, why should I bother?
Good question. To begin, it is a learned skill to extract valuable information from a book. We have written about this in our post – Why YOU definitely read over 100 books per year.
Secondly, you have to decide on what your purpose for reading is. If you want to be healthy, you read about books on health. If you want to build wealth, you read books or articles on building wealth. If you want to be successful, you read about successful people. It doesn’t make sense to reinvent the wheel. As it is written in the Bible “ there is nothing new under the sun”. By reading you are starting with a Blueprint. The Blueprint will save you so much time. Also, it would equip you with insights that will enable you to avoid many mistakes on your journey to Wealth.
Finally, you need to apply what you read. If you have read 100 books and have applied nothing, you have wasted your time. As Jim Rohn says if your learning turns into knowledge, you are a fool. If your learning turns into action, you become wealthy. Action is everything. Apply what you read.
To wrap up for the backbenchers, you need to have a purpose before you read. Furthermore, learn to extract value from what you read quickly and finally, take action.
FrontBenchers
Now, I know some of the frontbenchers are saying, we agree with you. We know. We have to read but there is just no time to do so. I know and I can feel your pain. Most people I know are in Survival mode. There is never enough time to do anything let alone sit down to read. We hardly finish paying school fees before the rent is due. I can sympathize.
But in this scenario, information also makes a difference. The tip is to get a good book on getting more time such as Make Time or any book on Productivity and time management. I usually just type in the best books on Productivity in Google and go from there. As suggested above, you are not the only person with your problems. There is a solution out there. There is information out there that solves your problem. All you have to do is Google and solve it. In all honesty, the internet has leveled the playing field for gathering information and changing our lives.
My thoughts
I am an avid reader and I know not everyone is. Unfortunately, we have to learn or read something new – change what we are inputting in our brains – if we intend to change our lives. As the saying goes, it is insane to do the same thing and expect a different result.
Until next time wealth builders, let’s build wealth.
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