Practice over theory

Only practice makes perfect in almost anything in life.

Reading only gets you so far, and it won’t help much when you actually need to apply that knowledge.

If you want to learn the language, you need to stop obsessing over grammar and structure. Go and actually consume and use that language.

If you want to learn a musical instrument, it won’t get you far if you study notes and music theory. Just go and play the instrument.

Theory remains theoretical. It doesn’t create anything.

Humans are practical creatures, but we like patterns a bit too much. That’s why we try to create the perfect structures for knowledge and come up with words to describe them. It comes in handy for passing knowledge down through generations. That’s helped with our progress as each generation didn’t have to start over.

But even in the age when we have all the world’s knowledge at our fingertips, we haven’t become the most skilled humans ever. We still need to practice whatever we set out to do to achieve mastery.

I’d even argue that practice is life.