28 | Know-how
When someone tells you how to do something for the first time, you absorb information that is likely to make you think: I get it.
But what are you getting, exactly?
Take a look at all those articles that reveal five ways to generate great ideas, or the seven phases of innovation. Some of them are good reads, but even if you bookmark the page, the thrill will be gone soon. Something similar happens when you read a memorable quote: it may deserve a place in your moleskine, but it is unlikely to be really useful to you down the line because it comes from someone else’s experience, not yours.
You can absorb information passively, but you can only gain practical knowledge if you engage actively.
Know-how defines how you learn something by doing it yourself rather than seeing it done, or being told how to do it.
When I got my first driver’s license, all driving was stick-shift driving. I am still sold to the idea that driving is fun only if you control the gearbox. And so when each one of my children turned eighteen, I made sure they learned the real driving.
I sat with them at the kitchen table and explained how to shift gears, the simple hand-foot coordination involving the clutch and gas pedals, and the gear stick.
