Weston Lyon

Are You Limited by Your Learning?

In life, we have knowledge and we have experience. While, I believe in gaining as much knowledge as possible (at least in the areas of your life you consider important), experience always has been and always will be a better teacher.

Copyright (c) 2008 Weston Lyon

Some of us are in information overload, while others are suffering from too much "know-how". In one of my last articles, Too Much Information is Bad for Results, I discussed ways to help you with information overload. Today, I want to talk to you about how too much knowledge can limit your life.

In life, we have knowledge and we have experience. While, I believe in gaining as much knowledge as possible (at least in the areas of your life you consider important), experience always has been and always will be a better teacher.

That's why I urge you to look at how much learning you're doing. It may be too much. And though that may seem like an oxymoron I assure you learning too much is slowing you down in life.

In fact, if you're learning too much, you're limiting your life. How? Here are two quotes that pretty much sum it up. I'll give you one quote at a time and tell you how learning is limiting your life:

1. "The wise are not learned; the learned are not wise" -from the Tao Te Ching by Lao-tse.

You see, wise men (or women) are not people who study all day long and have a wealth of knowledge.

Instead, the wise are people who've learned from experience, not theory. They are people who have lived and made mistakes, not just read about mistakes.

They are people who understand because they've "been there". If you're constantly learning and not doing, then you're limited. You're learned, but not wise.

2. "A frog that lives in a well cannot imagine the ocean. Nor can a summer insect conceive of ice. How then can a scholar understand the wise? He is restricted by his own learning." -paraphrased and reworded for this example by me from the Taoist writer Chuang-tse

The learned and knowledgeable are restricted and limited by their own learning. Don't get caught in this trap. Instead, learn what will get you closer to what you really want and then go out and take action.

Live the experience, don't just learn about it. Feel the emotions, don't just read about them.

Live without limits by restricting your learning. Don't allow your learning to limit you. Life is too short for that.

In closing, so what's more valuable...the knowledge or the experience?

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