If I have an idea or question in my mind that I need to get an answer to I will search the internet until I find the answer.
To me, research is as Albert Szent Gyorgyi beautifully writes,
Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought
I love the latter part of the quote in that it instills in me a feeling of inventiveness or being a pioneer of some sort.
However, the way in which I conduct research, almost always means I will continue down the rabbit hole of scouring the internet to see if anyone has thought of my idea, asked my question or if they have, learn everything about that idea or question.
If it’s about a person I will research that person’s life, history, accomplishments, failures, net worth, etc. It is a gift and a curse.
It’s a gift in the sense that I love to learn and am obsessed with learning all that I can to make myself the smartest I can be.
However, this curiousity leads me to then “research” for hours on end. I get so immersed on a topic that I will forget about all my work, obligations, everything, just to satisfy my desire to learn or find my answer.
In this way it is a curse since I have a very difficult time turning this off.
For example, this morning I simply Googled “exercise and success” I clicked on Forbes’ article titled: The Single Most Important Habit For Achieving Super Success. I learned some cool things but I didn’t find quite what I was looking for.
So I hit the back button and clicked on the second article by CNBC titled: Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson and Mark Cuban all agree that this one habit is key to success.
I learned about the value of exercise from billionaires like Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerburg, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Cuban and Jack Dorsey. One name I wasn’t too familiar with was Jack Dorsey and so I noticed Jack’s routine actually says it consists of:
up at 5:00, meditate for 30, seven-minute workout times three, make coffee, check in. Same thing every day,” says Dorsey. ”[It] allows a steady state that enables me to be more effective
reveals Dorsey in an AMA on Product Hunt. And so I did what any normal inquisitiveness person or entreprenuer would do and that was to google this billionaire entrepreneur Jack Dorsey and his daily routine.
What I found was incredible. I learned that he DOES NOT take warm showers, like at all. He sticks to 15 minute saunas and then ice baths immediately after. He does 7 minute workouts 3 times a day, walks 5 miles to work “feel alive”, follows the OMAD diet of eating only one meal a day at 6:30 pm, does not eat all weekend.
Following the OMAD diet allows him to focus more and be more productive as he regains the time typically spent on eating breakfast and lunch in addition to the time digesting the meals.
After learning about Jack, I was thinking of getting some work done, but had a bunch of other thoughts in my mind that I needed to research. Like who was greater Steve Jobs or Elon Musk? Or those two against Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos.
After reading people’s opinions on Quora, this topic led me to research about the 100 most influential persons in history.
I have always wanted to help others and become one of the most inlufnnetial people in history.
I learned about Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Buddha, Isaac Newton, Confucious, etc. I then went deeper to learn about each one more in depth and learned a good deal about each person.
From here, I went on to research about one of my heores Bruce Lee, how he became one of the most influential people of the 20th century, his writing, his philosophies, etc.
It’s safe to say my love for searching the internet is endless and a borderline obsession.
As my research can prove, this is also a trait shared by many of the most successful and inluential people in history, thank you very much.
I mean “the more you learn, the more you earn” right?
Warren Buffet even went so far as to say that “curiosity” is the most important trait of anyone who wants to become super successful.
Albert Einstein has stated,
imagination is more powerful than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution
Walt Disney was a man who dreamed of the impossible. It was his curiosity to create the imposibble that allow him to create Disney World “The Happiest place on Earth” and of course, the first ever animation film feature syncing it with sound. All his critics said it was impossoible.
In fact, His brother said that it was bound to fail and would waste a ton of money. Disney thankfully did not give in to their doubts and created the first ever animation film feature the world has ever seen.
Napeoleon Hill, after interviewing the worlds most successful men during his time as he chronicles in “Think and Grow Rich” mentions
Creative imagination is the 8th wonder of the world and the starting point of genius. If you can conceive it in your mind and beileve it, you can achieve it.”
Bruce Lee wrote a letter to himself to achieve his dreams, a technique he learend from Think and Grow Rich’s teaching of declaring your definite chief aim in life as well as your Path to riches statement and reading it out every morning and night. Bruce writes,
I, Bruce Lee, will amass world fame through my service, movies, and teachings. Bruce achieved this shortly after his death with his legendary movie, “Enter The Dragon”.
Jim Carrey mentioned in an interview with Oprah,
I wrote a check to myself, dating it 1977, when I would amass 10 million dollars for acting services rendered. I accomplished this feat after Dumb and Dumber was a blockbuster hit.
So you see my love for research allows me to not only learn from the greats in history but also allows me to flex my imagination muscles as I allow my imagination and curiousty to run wild.
There is no telling where my curiousty will lead me and it is this not knowing that makes the process all the more exhilirating and exciting.
There are also other searches which are a bit out there and weird but for the most part my searches are highly productive and make me a better human and leader.
The negative side of researching is that as I mentioned earlier I get lost in it as I’m having so much fun that time just flies by. Yes, I’ve learned so much in a short amount of time, but I haven’t done anything to act and execute on my goals. This often leaves me feeling uneasy, anxious and eager to get started working on my most important projects.
2. Research can make me jaded as I learn the truth about many of the things I once thought were facts
3. It creates a habit that I must research everything before I can act on anything. This feeling can be crippling and cause what’s called “paralysis by analysis”. I have been guily of this more times that I can count. I’m sure you have as well.
Look, we all go through times when we need to learn about something more in depth to get an idea of where to start or the full picture or if it’s worth pursuing in the first place.
But often this can suck you into researching endlessly about the topic as one facet leads you to another. This can be a vicious cycle.
4. Too much research can lead you to get lazy about remembering things and soley rely on the internet for answers. What happens when you don’t have access to the internet, what will you do then? Science now says, “researching is probably not making you as smart as you think you are.”
5. You get exposed to a lot of negative things and this can cause anxiety, worry and sometimes depression. Let’s face it, there is a lot of doom and gloom being shared on the internet. From images and videos of death, destruction, hate, trolls, etc. You name it it’s on the internet. But as the great Jim Rohn says”
Stand guard to the door of your mind.
We must stand guard to the door of your mind, because we are heavily influenced by what we expose ourselves too.
What things do you often puruse on the net?
We are essentially as Buffet says,
We are the average of the five people we hang out with the most.
Who are the 5 people you hang out with the most?
In closing, searching the web will always be an interest of mine and I will continue to learn as much as I can from all the great resources provided to us. And I will allow my imagination and curiosity to run wild because Albert Einstein believed as I do that,
Imagination is the highest form of research
Because after all as Zora Neale Hurston famously stated,
research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose
However, I will be mindful of what I search, my goal, and how long I search for.
I encourage you to do the same.
We will all be better for it.
Best,
Sonam
