I was recently posed with the question: “Is it possible that we’re actually at our best when we know the very least? When we’re new…we are rookies.”
For me, I’ve already outlined that I felt inadequate to blog because I entered a new career, a new area, a new…you get the point. Yet it’s in this fog and confusion that I can really shine — not when I’ve got all the proven facts and abilities.
For most of us, we want to move down the learning curve to become better at our jobs, roles, projects, etc. This is important. It has it’s place. But some downsides are that once we have knowledge, we tend to make assumptions. We see the patterns, so we fill in the gaps.
The upside of inexperience is that although we have a long way to mastery, we tend to work in pioneer mode because we’re desperate. We’re on the frontier and we’re working in scrappy ways. The way it was put to me is this: with a small, easy challenge, are you really satisfied? Yet we do great work in this awkward state of emotion to reduce the tension. Sort of like why we, as teenagers, wanted to grow up quickly so we’d stop being dorky forever.
A better explanation of the learning curve is thus:
Early on we’re confused, but we build steam and eventually, unless continually hitting new challenges, become bored. We then tend to put in less effort. We don’t see the game as challenging. We become frustrated. We lose interest.
Learning beats knowing.
Originally published at www.jeffreybeaumont.com.
Jeff Beaumont 