Saturday, November 14, 2009

Daily Inspiration 11-14-09

"If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."

- Benjamin Franklin

Learning is exciting to me. There were times in school when I absolutely hated it. Not the learning, but the poor presentation of knowledge. Matter of fact, there were very few teachers that I would call very good. The rest were mediocre at best, but I made do with what was in front of me.

It wasn't until after I got out of school and began a career in sales that I really started reading and studying. I wanted to learn and loved it. I found everything I could. I read the books, listened to the recordings and attended seminars. Over the years, I have spent untold thousands on this pursuit of knowledge. It has been worth every cent.

I hear people tell me that they can't finish a book because they fall asleep, or they haven't got time or fill in the blank. I used to fall asleep reading as well. Then I found audiobooks. Commuting 52 miles each way to my job started me on the path of audiobooks. I read several hundred books on tape over the years.

There is one series of audiobooks that I ran across and bought a couple on subscription. After listening to two or so, I called the company and bought the whole set of 60 audiobooks all at once. I couldn't wait to get back in the car to continue the learning. Most of these audiobooks were from a now defunct company called Managers Edge. Most were biographies of famous people like Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Andrew Carnegie, Ray Kroc, and on and on. Many were biographies of companies and how they got started like Holiday Inn, Xerox, Piper Airplanes, Hilton Hotels, The LearJet, and many others. I was just amazed at what I learned about these great businesses and business leaders. Many of them I never heard of until I listened to the book, such as Schlumberger, Royal Little, and many others.

I loved those tapes and listened to many several times. In 2004, I started an eBay book business and shortly afterward, I decided to search for these to resell. I bought every one I could get my hands on and I have sold several thousand dollars worth. I now have probably the world's largest collection of them for sale. I have found many other people who like them just as much as I did and it has been a real pleasure to find them and offer them to others.

The audiobook actually keeps you awake, so it is a great way to learn. On that long drive, I used to listen to music, but I would get sleepy and the audiobooks kept me wide awake with the side benefit of learning. So, if you have a hard time reading like I did for a long time, try audiobooks. You can get unabridged audiobooks of many books and that is word for word what is in the book. If you want to double your learning curve, read along while you listen.

I have found that every cent that I have spent on learning to be of superior value and like Benjamin Franklin says, no one can take it from you and it always pays the best interest.


I Can Read Books With My Ears! How Cool Is That?

Spread Some Joy Today--Buy Yourself An Audiobook And See What You Can Learn.

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