Counterintuitively, it’s easier to understand something if you’ve accepted not understanding it.
Take the classic dunning Krueger curve ⬇️
A LOT can be learned in the descend into the valley of the despair.
The painful humbling that takes place when you have your confidence shattered is the most important part of the ride. You gain an appreciation of the scale of how much you don’t know.
“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
⁃Epictetus
The curve can be split into three sections- up, down, and back up again.
1. In the beginning, you know nothing about a subject and you know that you know nothing about it- probably because you’ve never even heard of it.
However, as soon as you gain the most basic understanding of it, you think you’re an expert. This is because the first time you understand something new, it necessarily must fit within your worldview.
2. The top. Confidence spikes to infinity. Sooner or later, you learn something that doesn’t fit within your worldview, and all that confidence comes crashing down. Many quit at this stage.
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.”
⁃Richard Feynman
This collapse in confidence is actually the key to sustainably growing competence. You question what you thought you knew all along, and in a certain sense- you start the learning process all over again. But you’re not starting from scratch- you’re starting with humility, which will be your superpower.
3. Having been humbled, you dust yourself off and begin the real journey. The long tail of legitimately gaining a comprehensive understanding on that particular subject. On the slope of enlightenment, confidence lags behind competence.
Finally, the rate at which you learn new things plateaus and you realize that you basically are an expert at this point.
In summary- stay humble. Counterintuitively, if you earnestly attempt to determine just how deep the valley of despair is, you’ll soon find yourself climbing the slope of enlightenment.
“If anyone can refute me—show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective—I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.”
⁃Marcus Aurelius https://image.nostr.build/c7a5e3a8d4c240ec961e9e155b4cb190d4ab111bc69c07b77515a1d1be5b01f7.jpg
Jeff,
You don’t know me, but I’ve learned so much from you.
I just want to thank you for showing me that the world is to us what we choose to see in it.
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