For some endeavors, all you need to succeed is knowledge and a good reason to follow through. As long as you have a good set of instructions, you should be able to succeed on your first try.
Acquiring a skill, however, requires knowledge plus practice.
If you expect to succeed at a skill without allowing yourself time to practice, you’re likely to be frustrated. (And we don’t want that!)
Takeaways
- Some goals can be achieved by acquiring the requisite knowledge. Others (what we’re calling skills) require both knowledge and practice to master.
- Expecting to master a skill without putting in some practice time may lead to a lot of unnecessary frustration.
- The distinction between knowledge and skill isn’t necessarily about complexity. Some knowledge based tasks are quite complex. And some skills aren’t terribly complex but still require practice.
- Creating change requires that you do more than just acquire information. You need to take action.
Lab Experiment
Make a list of things you are working on or working towards. For each one, identify whether your goal involves acquiring knowledge or acquiring skill.
(Having trouble figuring out which is which? Shoot us an email and we’ll be happy to weigh in)
For each thing on your list, decide what you need to do next in order to move forward:
- Do you still need to gather more information?
- Do you need to take action on the information you’ve gathered.
- Or do you need to put in some practice time?