The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

October 26Upon Rereading

No one can learn what they have not preparation for learning, however near to their eyes the object. A chemist may tell their most precious secrets to a carpenter, and they shall be none the wiser. Our eyes are holden that we cannot see things that stare us in the face, until the hour arrives when the mind is reopened; then we behold them, and the time when we saw them not is like a dream.

Ralph Waldo Emerson—“Spiritual Laws” (1841)

Have you ever gone back and reread a book only to find yourself stumbling upon some bolt of wisdom that you inexplicably missed in the last reading? It's as if the author read your mind and through some electronic feat of magic edited the book while it sat on your reader or shelf.

Now, staring you right in the face is the exact thing you need to hear today in order to forge ahead.

For all of its miraculousness, the mind seems to obscure things from our view until we are ready to go looking for them.

But, another thing is at play here: you've traveled some distance since you last picked up that book, and your new understanding is a measure of this. Since the book never changes, its constant state persists as the measure of your growth.

And for that reason, rereading should be at the top of every entrepreneur's to-do list. Quite often we read books because they show up on someone's “must reads” list, yet they contain ideas we barely understand until we've attempted and struggled to accomplish some aspect essential to the ...