Learn on the Job

If you are anything like me, you expect to prepare your way out of ever feeling any discomfort or embarrassment. I always want to be prepared. I scouted the location where I was taking the LSAT so that I could find a parking spot that wouldn't be facing the sun. I think this preparation can be beneficial, but only to a point.

For a lot of people, January means a time to make a change in themselves. Either physically or mentally millions of people are gearing up to join a gym, start a new diet, or finally call their mother. That phrase "gearing up to" is the core of this problem. Most people will "gear up" for the next 6 months. Planning, preparing, adjusting their plans and then scrapping their plans and starting over. Before they know it it'll be June and they'll be so bogged down by life that they no longer feel the momentum of a new year and decide to put the change off for another year. I know this cycle because I have lived this cycle! I wanted to start playing chess, but I was so intimidated by the board that I needed to learn and prepare before I ever even tried to play. I read 5 books on the subject, watched instructional videos, did puzzles. I did everything around the game of chess short of actually playing a game! Preparation and study are not inherently bad things, in fact they are incredibly necessary, as long as they are secondary to actually performing the action that you are studying and preparing for.

So this January I encourage you to prepare just enough and then go out and do the thing that you are preparing for. Figure out how to not get injured and then get under the bar and go for a squat. It's going to look ugly and feel even worse, but you did it. Now you can go back and figure out how to do it better! Imagine the change you could make if you did and learned instead of just learned.