Consuming vs producing


“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.”

Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM

I have since long been charmed by the idea of giving more time to producing rather than just consuming knowledge.

Consuming or gathering knowledge on your topic of interest is good, but sometimes this is a clever way of running away from producing.

Take my example. I secretly dream to become a great writer so that I can travel the world and live on my own terms.

So to make this audacious dream a reality, I read books and top blogposts on writing. But when it ultimately boils down to producing my work so that others can judge it…

I reason with myself that the time isn’t not yet ripe for it, and therefore I have to do more homework. Doing more homework, i.e. reading more books or listening to more podcasts, looks a good idea.

But at the heart of it lies my fear of producing – my fear of making mistakes or getting rejected or ridiculed.

Because let’s face it, producing is devilish tough. It pushes us to the brink of getting criticised and ridiculed.

Of course, if what we produce is appreciated, we’ll get our desire of getting praised and respect fulfilled, but first we have to cross through the hair-raising risk of becoming an object of ridicule.

This fear keeps us from producing, and just so that we can tell ourselves that we’re engaged in a meaningful work, we give more and more time to gathering knowledge.

We need to analyse if this gathering of knowledge is becoming a hurdle for us in the way of producing. How fruitful would it be to see to it in a purely dispassionate manner that we don’t use this gathering of knowledge or preparing for better as an excuse to back away from producing?

A fair balance would be something like this: If I give two hours a day to gathering knowledge, then I must give the same number of hours to making something meaningful ready to be produced.

(See what suits you.)

Merely preparation and gathering knowledge isn't going to cut it. Eventually we have to put it into practice.

Yes. Eventually we need to release our work for public scrutiny even if we’re criticised. Going beyond this fear of being criticised can bring us the success we dream about, and there hardly is any other way.

We might make blunders, fail to earn one loyal reader /client/customer – but it’s going to turn us better. We at least will learn to fail better.

While I know this nugget of wisdom, it’s time I acted on it. Knowledge without action is like a car without wheels.

So?

So am producing this personal journal entry on my blog, and thus opening myself up for ridicule, or maybe, appreciation!

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