Yesterday I made a general statement that practice should be added to learning in order to create wisdom. Here’s a specific example:
In the nutrition program that I coach, most (not all) clients go through a few phases:
- Fast (A few days)
- Cleanse (A few weeks)
- Reset (A few weeks)
- Maintenance (A few weeks)
- Life (Hopefully a long time)
Now, I could sit here and write out many details about each phase: why certain foods are, or are not, allowed; why we do it this way or that way; what is happening inside your body during each phase, etc.
And in fact, we do have much of that information written out in our manuals.
But here’s the thing: even though you could read the entire manual cover-to-cover, absorb it, and then hop on a call with me before starting the program to answer all of your questions (and in fact, we do this), until you actually walk the program on a daily basis, you won’t feel the effects.
The same was true for me. I understood it conceptually before embarking on it, but it was only after going through the journey that I really knew and felt what it meant.
More simply put, as one of my mentors Seth Godin often says: “If you want to learn to ride a bike, don’t read a book.”
Matt Fried 