Derek Sivers

Any questions?

2011-06-04

I’m addicted to learning. Trying to figure out the ways of the world. Trying to understand how other people think, how I think, and how to bridge the gap.

They say there are a few stages of learning:

  1. unconscious incompetence
  2. conscious incompetence (that’s me)
  3. conscious competence
  4. unconscious competence

This past year I’ve been mostly publicly silent because I hit stage #2. I’m overwhelmed with how much I don’t know. I feel like a novice at everything. This is daunting but good.

There’s a parable that Socrates had a student who asked him, “How can I get wisdom?” Socrates walked him down to the ocean until they were both standing waist-high in the water. Then he grabbed the student’s head and pushed it underwater, holding it there while the student struggled and panicked. When he let go and the student stood up, gasping for air, Socrates said, “When you want wisdom as much as you wanted that next breath, you’ll get it.”

I spend most of my time learning: reading, studying, and quizzing myself to retain what I’ve learned. But I’ve been neglecting the other most important part: using what I learn to create something useful.

Writing these posts on my site is useful. I’d like to do a lot more of it. So it’s time I ask for questions.

Most of my posts have been in response to questions I get by email.

So, to get me writing again, I could use some questions.

If you want to hear my thoughts on something, please email me a question now.