School teaches us that information and knowledge is sequential and continuous. Each chapter lays out a complete picture of what is meant to learn. Presented with few gaps. we get the opportunity to practice understanding new information. With a secondary effect being to teach us how to learn & think.
Yet life is where no school is present. No teacher to guide us. Where no makeup tests exist. Yet we are tested every day by each choice we make. Also by what we choose to avoid or delay. Making many mistakes along the way.
What is not obvious (nor are we taught) that new knowledge is not continuous but rather is made up of bits and pieces in real life. Randomly appearing at unannounced times. Some things we notice and other times we pass over things that are meant to be important. Other stuff poses as important but is less credible than we choose to assume.
Because of this discontinuous nature of adult learning in life, we need to be vigilant. To not be impulsive and reactionary when learning something new. For there most likely is more that needs to be understood before deciding on what needs to be done next.
Context and perspective have so much more value once you understand the discontinuous nature of new information in our adult life. They are built by consciously looking for more bits and pieces of new knowledge before deciding on a direction or choice. Looking for both confirming and disconfirming points of view that can be helpful.
As you develop proficiency in an area, the quantity of bits and pieces of knowledge accumulate. creating competence and effectiveness. The challenge is to continually test and explore what the boundary of your knowledge is and then pushing it further by continuing to learn. Becoming better over time to see the gaps in understanding of things we think we know well.
Making learning as an adult a much more challenging endeavor than first thought.