Time Keep Ticking
With all of these mini-videos on social media giving the answers to life, it’s no wonder that we are all living our best and most successful lives! I mean how could we not? The answers to everything from how to turn a side hustle into a main gig, how to lose weight, ways to invest, healthy meal recipes, how to ask for a raise, how to make passive income, the qualities of motorcycle riding gear, where to find the best food deals, and even how to know if your man is cheating on you; all available in a quick, easy-to-watch, easy-to-digest format. It’s obvious we’re all feeling were running at 110%! Wait… you’re not? Funny, me either.
But why? If all of the information is readily available for us to find the answers we need, why does it often feel like there are things just outside of our reach. Why does seeking food deals take more time? Why does it seem so draining to make a healthy meal? How come you can’t just feel confident in asking for a raise. Afterall, there was a video about it, and it seemed to make sense.
Unfortunately, that’s the rub. Where people tend to fall short is that they succumb to the trap of fake knowledge, or unapplicable wisdom. While you may have just watched a video about how to borrow against a life-insurance policy reinvesting in the market to double your returns, you probably still don’t know exactly how to do it to become rich, or even the incremental steps needed to get to that point (me neither). Even though the video made it seem so easy and doable for an everyday person.
It’s just surface knowledge. It is just enough information to sound plausible and doable, hell even easy to do, that sucks us in. When the rubber meets the road though, it is actually much more of an undertaking.
What are we left to do here?
The first step to any problem is admitting there is one. If you are the type to continue scrolling through these social media apps feeling like you are learning so much (I know I am), then you need to ask yourself what it is you are actually learning. The vast majority of information we take in each second of each day disappears before we can retain it simply because there is just so much going on and we can’t hold it all. Think of those cheesy infomercials where the actor is cradling an unrealistic amount of something as they proceed to drop it all to the floor (google “Limes Guy Meme”), cheeky fun isn’t it. Our memory works the same way, and with each passing second adding more and more information to your already filled up hands it becomes less and less likely that some nugget of information will be retained. It’s no wonder that we can’t remember every video we’ve seen, if so, we’d all be lock-picking lawyers with healthy coping mechanisms for whatever life throws our way.
How then can we be sure we have learned something worth holding on to? Well, the answer is shockingly simple. It’s time. The more time we spend working with an idea or an activity, the more likely we are to remember it. By taking a little extra time to even make a small note in your phone or on a sticky note about some new concepts you want to learn more about, you are actually increasing the likelihood of remembering that new concept. Even these blogs can be examples of things that you can take notes on in hopes of applying these new skills.
Take the time to expand upon your notes. Revisiting the ideas the next day or two. This will dramatically increase how much you have learned about a given topic.
There are, however, trade offs. By taking more time on learning one particular thing, you are taking that time away from learning something else, and what IF that other thing will come to be more important to you in the future?
Hate to say it, but you can never really know what you will need and what you won’t need, but you can for certain say that something remembered is a hell-of-a lot more valuable than something you didn’t.
- Take notes
- Revisit those notes
- Expand on the ideas beyond a single word or sentence
The funny thing about time is that it keeps flowing whether you are using it to the fullest or not. Do your best to increase the odds of what you’re spending it on becomes something remembered and useful. Try not to ever forget….
Time Keeps Ticking