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Operate in the real world
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
I grew up in a somewhat academic family. Many of my parent's friend are academics, and I've spent a lot of time socialising with such people. My own career has been mostly in the business world. What strikes me is how different their world-view of how things operate is to what I've experienced.
I think this is mostly because academics get tied up in the theory of how things should work, and don't get much experience of how they actually do. Academics live in a sheltered university life, where the real cut-throat world of business rarely operates. They experience the real world through books and dinner-party conversations, while getting very little real experience.
This is typical of many people. So many of us spend our time reading, talking, and getting educated on how things work, without really going out to experience them for ourselves.
And one thing that's certain is the reality often operates differently from how theory says it should. Of course, theory is important, but without experience to back it up it's often not worth much.
It's so easy to get hooked on books, seminars and conversations on various topics. Whether it's investment, job-hunting, relationships, health, sport, or some other field you're interested in improving in - make sure you back up the theory with experience. Get out there and test the ideas you've been exposed to and those you've come up with yourself.
Be prepared to fall over, hurt yourself, and get back up to figure out what went wrong. Don't be afraid to find out some idea you've become wedded to turns out to be wrong.
In these times of the internet and endless information, it's too easy to get caught up in a kind of fantasy existence where you feel like and expert on some topic even though you have very little experience in it. Go out and get that experience. Mix some hard reality in with your theories.
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