They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. And, if you’ve ever had to sit through someone’s slideshow of their latest vacation, you know that those thousand words are just the tip of the iceberg.
When I watch these slideshows, I get nothing out of them. I see a couple of beautiful landscapes, a couple of smiling faces… and then I tune out, wishing I was somewhere else.
I’m not grumpy. There’s just no value for me… Until I’ve had a similar experience.
I could look at a thousand slideshows and watch a thousand travel videos from the comfort of my couch; I’d still never have been to Italy. More importantly, if I found myself there tomorrow, I would be barely better off than someone with no prior knowledge.
If, however, I already have experience — the insider knowledge you can be privy to only after you’ve learned firsthand what the geographic relationships between Tuscany, Rome, and Milan are as well as the three cities’ chief industries — then these slideshows and videos would build on my knowledge in a way that would have been unimaginable before. (And, for the record, they are wine, tourism, and fashion, respectively).
If you want to learn how to play the piano, stumble your way around the keys a little before you pick up a book.
If you want to learn how to use social media to enhance your brand, get your toes wet before you tune into Chris Brogan, Dan Schawbel, and Mitch Joel.
If you want to start blogging, open a WordPress account and write (mention your new blog in the comments, if you’d like) before you read all of the “how to blog effectively” posts you can find with a simple Google search.
All of the writing, photos, videos, and lectures in the world don’t mean a thing unless you have the framework to put them in. You need to understand what you’re doing (and how it feels) before you get technical about it.
What you want to do is easy — and more refreshing — if you develop some personal habits and then shift them to accepted norms. If you try to plan everything out or learn everything there is to know, you’ll be a slave to the project… and a slow one, at that.
What are you waiting for? As my dad would say…
August 29, 2008 at 11:54 pm |
This post made me think of a study that’s mentioned in ‘Made to Stick.’
In the study, there were two groups of people: tappers and listeners. The tappers had to tap the tune of ‘Happy Birthday’ on a wood table while the listeners had to guess what they were tapping. When asked how confident they were in their abilities, the tappers said that the listeners probably had a 50% chance of guessing correctly.
Only 2% of the listeners guessed right! The tappers were furious because they couldn’t understand how the listeners were missing it. But the tune was in the tappers’ heads to begin with; the listeners were just hearing random knocks.
So, to expand on your point… you won’t connect to the right frame of mind until you have some empirical understanding. You have to experience something before you can gain any sort of deeper appreciation for it.