And Then, When You Think You Have Learned Everything...


It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.

—John Wooden,
author

The most successful people in every field know that they can never fully master their craft. There is always something new to learn. Life does not come in a neat little package tied up in a bow. There is never a time when you can say, "Ah, now I know everything about this subject."

One man who is a perfect example of continuous learning was master violinmaker Richard Menzel. He spent more than 30 years as an engineer at the Lockheed Corporation. Yet he always made time for his love of music. He played the violin and studied it from both a musical and engineering point of view. When he left Lockheed to open his shop, he continued his quest for knowledge.

Menzel used the standard tools of his trade, but often created new tools to fix the standard ones. He invented new tools to study areas of violin engineering no one else had explored. He created an instrument to measure the angle of your arm when you're moving the bow from string to string so that you can gauge and improve your form. He invented a machine to study the properties of horsehair used in making bows. "How much pressure does it take to break this hair?" he asked. "How much does it stretch? How much does it expand over time? Nobody knows, but I want to find out."

He invented a tool to measure the amount of pressure it takes to bring a string down to make contact with the wood. Ideally, he could have used that knowledge to construct a violin so that it would take equal pressure all along the length of the string, which would make a better sound. Such a violin may be impossible to construct, but Menzel continued his study with the hope that someday he would find the solution.

In fact, he admitted to being frustrated at the lack of closure in his learning.

"There is no end to studying," he said. "When you solve one problem, it just leads to other questions to be answered." But it is the pursuit of those answers that gives us energy and enthusiasm for life and makes us look forward to endless possibilities that lay ahead. To say, "I have learned enough" is to stop living.




Diamond Power. Gems of Wisdom From America's Greatest Marketer
Diamond Power: Gems of Wisdom from Americas Greatest Marketer
ISBN: 1564146987
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 207
Authors: Barry Farber

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