by Divyani Rattanpal

 

 

This funny anecdote rightly informs one of the power of learning by doing. Einstein always maintained that experience was indeed the best teacher. He said bookish knowledge cannot suffice for anyone’s lack of experience.

 

Few have lived a life more rewarding than the great Albert Einstein. He was a physicist, philosopher, author, and perhaps the most influential scientist to have ever lived. We present you 11 life lessons from the great man’s life:

1. Intellectual growth

Einstein Speak: “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”

The brain is like a knife – it needs to be sharpened everyday to maintain its edge. Thinking, reading and applying knowledge are the weapons in a successful man’s armoury. As Tyrion Lannister of the popular series Game of Thrones has said, “A mind needs books like a sword needs whetstone”.

2. Don’t Pass Judgment Without Proof

Einstein Speak: “Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance.”

Believing in hearsay is the sign of a weak human mind. Objective people carefully avoid the temptation of taking everything at face value. Therefore, it is sensible to arrive at a conclusion only after hearing both sides to the story, or looking at the evidence supporting a statement.

3. Don’t Fret Over The Future

Einstein Speak: “I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.”

The future has no physical realm. Its worry is just a manifestation of the mind. If the future itself has no form, how can our worries about the future be of any consequence then? The present is all that we have — all that is real. That is where all our energies should be focused on.

4. Knowledge Comes From Experience

Two men played chess for years. Both were quite evenly matched, and enjoyed keen competition in each other. One summer, however, one of them began to win all games. The other man was bewildered; and began to look for reasons why he was failing in each game, when earlier both used to win equally. He then understood the cause: he had been reading a four volume book on How to Master Chess. Then, he did the smart thing. He gifted it to the winning man. Not long after, he began to win again.

This funny anecdote rightly informs one of the power of learning by doing. Einstein always maintained that experience was indeed the best teacher. He said bookish knowledge cannot suffice for anyone’s lack of experience.

5. Don’t Idolize People

Einstein Speak: “Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.”

We often tend to idolize leaders. Each one of us has a long, private list of role models, ranging from the top management at our offices, to the biggest names in our industries. This subconsciously also creates the “Superhero Myth”- a belief that great men are born, and that we can never become them. There is in fact, no super hero. All those successful people were ordinary men, who rose to heights only through their own strength and hard work.

6. Great People Always Encounter Great Opposition

Einstein Speak: “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”

Anything unusual has its own share of doubters, disbelievers, refuters and crushers. People will always talk us out of our ambitions, dreams and goals if their enormity scares them. Hence, it is not unsurprising that resistance comes before success. Greatness never goes unquestioned by opposition. So don’t let the “little men” stop you.

7. Change The Way You Think

Einstein Speak: “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

Problems can never, ever be greater than the human spirit. After all, it is us who created them! At the same time, if the current capacity of the mind is preventing us from arriving at a solution, we should change the way we think. Reading can help us rise higher from our current level of consciousness.

8. Change Your Approach

Einstein Speak: “We can’t do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. That’s insanity.”

If one approach has failed, it can’t be tested time and again. Another approach needs to be developed; different angles need to be explored. Only then we can rise from our failures. Simply put, we can’t keep following the same daily routine and expect different results. To change our life, we need to change our actions and thinking.

9. Character Trumps Intellect

Einstein Speak: “Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.”

History has always rewarded men with great strength of character. Character is what is left of a person when he is in a room – alone. A person’s character determines how far he goes in his life. So work on your character – work on being an objective, righteous, hard-working and principled man. Since, there’s nothing more dangerous than a man of intellect with no character to back.

10. Create Value. Don’t Chase Success Alone

Einstein Speak: “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”

Many in the millennial generation are fixated on their dream salaries and dream jobs. If, however, they reposition their goals to be one of creating value, they can achieve heights they themselves didn’t imagine. One’s aim should be to make himself / herself as useful as they can. Success will soon follow shortly after.

11. Learn The Rules Of The Game And Play It Better

Einstein Speak: “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”

Rules are vital to any game; be it played by entrepreneurs, techies, cricketers or writers. Each successful player, on the field or otherwise, very well knows the rules of his game. Later, though, he strives to play the game better than anyone.

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