(….and only now am I beginning to understand.)
A close friend of mine has been telling me over and over about a business concept that helped explain the effect of unit volume on the profitability of my business.
Everytime I heard it, I nodded yes and acknowledged that I understood. What he told me made perfect sense. Thinking I am smart, I just went on with my life. Never acting or behaving in a way that was guided by the new knowledge he had given me.
It is only after five years of repeated exposure to the concept am I trying to internalize it in ways that could benefit my business. FIVE YEARS! Only now am I beginning to understand the value of what was said.
I am fortunate to be able to meet many people. They often share with me their beliefs that things are easy to learn. That telling someone something new will benefit them today. Where explaining a new concept is enough for them to run with it.
Sadly, they are mistaken. Internalizing what you heard is far more difficult than simply hearing the words. It is far more involved than simply understanding the logic of what was said. FAR MORE DIFFICULT than simply reading a book or listening to someone speak to explain something new or different.
We are all guilty of shallow learning. Where we are exposed to things but never internalize them. What we heard can easily be repeated in conversations making others think we know more than they do. You can pick your topic: food choices, weight management, exercise, cooking, algebra, photography, knitting, baking and so on.
Internalizing new concepts into your life requires time, effort, and essentially pressure. Pressure to think or choose differently. Chipping away at our ignorance until we incorporate the center of what we heard or just learned into our behavior within our life takes a great deal of work.
Reminding us again, how little we truly understand in many situations where we believe we do.