The Habit of Wise Men

Use Templates

If you're not reading, you are expressing an unintelligent pride that will cost you time, space, and even a lifetime.

— Abiola Okun

I was reading this morning and I stumbled on a quote from Warren Buffet's partner, Charlie Munger, which said, "In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn't read all the time—none, zero."

I keep saying that, in all of history, no generation has been as blessed and fortunate as we are in this generation, and it keeps getting better. You know why that is? We've got templates!

If you design on Canva or work with Google Sheets to create calendars and other functional project sheets and trackers, you'd have stumbled on and probably actively used templates before. The thing about templates is that they make everything easier and faster.

People have argued that there's no originality with templates, and if you use them, you'll simply produce ordinary designs that "everybody uses." Now, that's small thinking. It is the thinking of someone who isn't looking to grow and infuse their own genius into these templates. However, let me not jump the gun. Let's backtrack one step.

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What are templates?

Simply put, a template is anything that serves as a model for others to copy. It is something someone in the past created and made available for others to use, tweak, reshape, resize, rearrange to suit specific needs.

Templates are available in every field, every sphere, every career, every business, and every industry.

Templates say, "Hey! You don't have to spend time—in some cases, years—reinventing the wheel! You don't have to waste resources figuring it out from scratch! It's been figured out! Just put some touches that will meet and satisfy your taste!"

Why waste precious resources and time that can go into shaping out specific genius on figuring out stuff from scratch when you can start with a template?

Templates have been passed down each generation, templates for success, for life, and these templates avail us the opportunity to achieve our goals faster, and dare I say, even easier, so we can go on and spend time infusing our own genius that will stand us out and make us different from the rest.

Pride is the only reason why you wouldn't use templates! Because you think you can figure it out on your own, and you don't need the templates that have already figured it out on your behalf.

What you don't understand is, nobody is calling into question your ability to figure it out. However, by the time you figure out the basics or try to reinvent the wheel, others who used templates would have gone far ahead into their own genius and uniqueness.

By the time you figure out the basics or try to reinvent the wheel, others who used templates would have gone far ahead into their genius.

In this generation, we've got templates for ages. Templates that will compress our journeys, templates that will help us retire early, templates that will help us be successful fast, and find fulfilment faster! These templates are in many forms: mentors, structures, monuments, history, etc., but the ultimate template is also the most affordable and accessible: Books!

Every book is a template for the life of the writer. It is a template for the principles of the subject matter. No matter what you want to become in life, someone else has been there, done that, or at the very least, done something close to that, and he or she has written a book about the principles that helped them achieve it, or have a book written about them and the principles they followed throughout their lives. But no, you won't read it.

Books are gateways into the minds of the greatest and most powerful. They house strategies and principles that will get you where you want to go, or at least get you close. That's why templates do. They get you close, and you tweak it to suit your purposes.

But no, you won't read. You won't use the template. Not because you don't have access to books. Not because you're lazy or busy — I mean, how lazy or busy can you get not to read at least one page a day? It's not because you don't like to read either. It is pride! You think your journey is unique and nobody has written about the habits you need or the principles that would get you there.

Oh yes! The only reason you wouldn't use templates is that you think those templates are beneath you, and you can figure it out on your own. That's pride, and that pride, dear reader, will in the long run degenerate into foolishness. And guess what? No foolish person succeeds at anything.

You might be the smartest in your family. You can even be the smartest in your country. Of course, if given space, time, and resources, you can figure it out on your own. It’s not rocket science. However, it is still foolishness, because you could have been using the same space, time, and resources to figure out and tweak the template into your unique design and apply it, rather than first trying to figure out the basics.

Many times, specifically, short-term ventures like design and art, you can learn from the templates and build out your own design from scratch after learning. You can become so much of an expert that you don't even need templates anymore to create sheets, graphic designs, artworks, and whatever is relevant to you.

But the big question is, would you have that kind of time with your life? Can you afford trying to figure it out on your own for 10, 15 years?

Well, that is exactly what you try to do when you don't read books! If you're not reading, you are expressing an unintelligent pride that will cost you time, space, and even a lifetime.

This is why Charlie Munger said, "In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn't read all the time — none, zero."

I hope you're wise.

To your growth,

Your Coach,

Abiola Okunsanya,

Handzinspired. ✨