You can read the articles. Watch the videos. Listen to the podcasts. Ask ChatGPT every question you can think of.
But eventually, you have to go do the thing.
This past week I competed in my first USPSA match.
I had a general idea of what I was getting into. I’d trained, done some research, asked questions, and thought I understood it pretty well.
Then I actually stepped onto the competition floor and realized there was a lot more to learn.
Things I hadn’t thought about. Things that made a lot more sense once I experienced them. Things I probably could have watched someone explain a hundred times and still not fully understood until I did it myself.
It reminded me that some of the best learning happens when you’re willing to be a beginner again.
Between ChatGPT and the internet, you can learn about almost anything. And that’s awesome. But information will only take you so far.
Parenting is like that. Running a business is like that. Fitness is like that.
At some point, you have to get back out there and get some reps.
So with kids going back to school right now, maybe there’s a lesson in there for the rest of us too.
Go back to school.
Try something you’ve never done before. Enter the competition. Take the class. Learn a new skill. Go somewhere new. Put yourself in a situation where you don’t have all the answers yet.
You might suck at it. You might realize it’s not for you. You might find something you absolutely love.
But I guarantee you’ll learn something you never would have learned sitting on the sidelines.
