Why Practical Application is the Best Way to Learn
And theoretical studies can only take you so far.
I love reading, and I love learning. As you’re reading this, I guess you do too. But, despite my fondness of it, reading can only take you so far in the pursuit of knowledge.
It is one thing to learn about something by studying the theory of it, a la academia; it is an entirely different thing to go out into the world and do it. If you want to gain a deep understanding of a subject or develop a skill, you must experience it first-hand.
Take tennis as an arbitrary example. You could read everything ever written about playing the game. You could learn from the world’s best trainers listen to the secrets about technique and strategy that only the pros know. Does that mean that you could enter Wimbledon and hold your own? I don’t think so. For that, you would have to put in thousands of hours of practice on the court.
If you wanted to learn how to draw, you could spend years studying art history books and watching every YouTube tutorial you can find. But until you sit down and start drawing, you are never going to improve your ability.
It’s the same with martial arts. You could consume all the instructional resources in the world, but anyone with a modicum of training would…
