Theory is important, but action is crucial.
You can take all of the workshops, seminars, and classes you like. But until you put something into practice, it’s all just information.
And information is cheap.
Let’s say you’re, oh, I don’t know, maybe something original here. Oh, I know! Let’s say you’re writing a book. 😉
You could say that you know all of the basics of writing and marketing and “Could start anytime.” Uh huh. When, exactly, is that? Show it to me on the calendar. Which month is it in?
You could admit that you could still learn a few things from a more intermediate level, so you need to take some courses and get a mentor first. Excellent idea! But not an excuse to not write.
There are some top-notch seminars on how to market and sell your book that you should really take. You could probably convince yourself that you should take those before you sit down to write.
There. I did it.
I’m sorry. I can’t even fake this anymore. I can’t even pretend to write about how you don’t need to act, that you don’t need to do. How much of our knowledge comes from experience and how much comes from “book learning”? Don’t tell this (yet) to my kids. Of course, you need a basis, a foundation of knowledge before you can do it yourself, but you can try very early on.
A kid can read an encyclopedia entry on how bicycles work, but he could also just jump on and with a little guiding hand from dad for the first half block he’s on his way.
But we need experience. We need action, failure. We learn more from failure than from success. But you can’t fail if you don’t try. Remember, failure is a good thing. Failure is learning how to make it better the next time. Remember that, add a dash of theory and a bucketload of action and you’ll get there.
- Learn
- Do
- Improve
- Repeat
It’s kinda that simple.
- Read the chapter you need to study for biology, but do the self-test at the end of the chapter.
- Watch all of the NBA basketball you can, but take 100 free throws without stopping.
- Listen to podcasts on book marketing, but build your mailing list sign-up form and launch it.
Read about what cannot yet do. But don’t forget to do what you cannot yet do.
Or at least try.
