principle – From the desk of Adam Thomas

This week I wrote about three principles

Do – Go do. There is a wide chasm between people who just say they want to do it, those who go through the intellectual rigor, and those who actually execute. Anyone who does that has no choice but to become effective because operating comes with lessons, especially in failure. So, whatever you want to do, please, go and do.

Consume – What we digest is what we ultimately use to create our opinions. All ideas have a starting point. Nothing materializes out of thin air. What we consume physically, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually creates our ideas. Staying vigilant on what we digest is just as important as keeping an eye on what we do or who we talk to, because if our start is bad, then we doom the idea from the start (GIGO). The other thing to remember is that this is a limited resource. The outer limits are real, so guard what you know, and defend against taking on too much to soon,

Talk – The difference between understanding and ‘thinking you understand’ is huge. That gap remains large if you don’t talk about what you know to other people. Through talking, you get a chance to build understanding and catch up on ideas you thought you knew. Just watch out for your ego (it is going to want to stay safe).

I think these three things are the bedrock of learning and mastering any skill. This principle is open enough to try all disciplines. By doing, talking, and consuming things I get completely engaged. The skill becomes my world, meaning I can’t escape it since it consumes everything.

It also stands as a great measure of where my priorities are. If I look at my calendar and I don’t see those three principles during the week, then I know I get scattered. It is a steady heuristic for my focus, and if I look randomly, I can see just where it lies. Understanding my focus makes me more effective.

Anything is entertainment

I used to love blog posts. When I woke up I sat in front of the computer, consuming the latest on Techcrunch or Gizmodo. I thought that information, and information alone was power; those blog posts were keeping me up to date on what was happening in the world of technology.

Fortunately, I woke up and realized a few things

Blog posts don’t give any rigor, are usually wrong, and lead to shallow conversations.
Since I didn’t do anything with that time, it was just entertainment anyway.

I realized that reading blog posts is in the same league as wrestling and daytime TV, except they didn’t nail the emotion part as well (those two types of programs are masters of that side of story telling).

Learning how to do starts with doing

I don’t know how I missed that in class, but I finally recognized that action turns knowledge into something tangible, something real. It’s why I started taking this blog seriously. Instead of thinking about a platform for me to sell things, I understood that this place has real power in forcing me to scratch down ideas and deal with chewing through them. The value isn’t in the clicks, but the rigor that I have to do when I write through them.

That ended up being just the tip of the iceberg. I learned that writing through these ideas is fun, and they test me to try to understand and put them together, but ultimately, I need to take the next step… and commit.

Committing to execution is the goal.

Go do. That’s the point of this post. There is a wide chasm between people who just say they want to do it, those who go through the intellectual rigor, and those who actually execute. Anyone who does that has no choice but to become effective because operating comes with lessons, especially in failure. So, whatever you want to do, please, go and do.