That Which You Already Almost Know

Knowledge builds upon knowledge, this is well understood from a societal perspective. Looking at approaches like The Scientific Method that have enabled great scientific advancements. Each generation sees further by standing on the shoulders of past giants.

There is however an optimal rate in learning that is subjective to the learner's capability, current understanding, and the depth of the exposed content.

Why does the same knowledge empower people differently? Ever talked about a book that changed your life, to find other people that read it being unaffected? How many valuable insights have you shared with other people, just to find the knowledge pass through unrealized?

Many times this is because understanding is not yet at a useful level. There are still other reasons why knowledge does not reach its full potential (Like not reaching Heart and Hands) the first hurdle to cross however is understanding (Head) and the focus of this article.

How do we efficiently grow our understanding within a new domain?

The famous saying that even an elephant can be eaten one bite at a time stand out. Find a basic understanding of the key concepts in a new domain and expand on them until they start merging to form a holistic picture.

• Bite-sized learning over time is more effective than a similar amount of time in large blocks (Better retention and integration)
• You can't learn before knowing what you need to learn (Learning Paradox). This is especially relevant in self-guided learning, start by researching the landscape from authoritative sources e.g. comparing course outlines or asking an expert.

In summary, you need to almost already know something before you are able to understand it. There exist shades of understanding and as such, it is possible to go through the exact same content repeatedly and gain a deeper understanding.

As a teacher try to teach incrementally from where your audience is, make the goal of increasing understanding not finish talking through the material. Asking if they understand is not helpful, as each person measures it against what they know not what they are yet to learn. We are all blind to our gaps in our understanding, as such those who teaches learns twice. Test understanding by changing the original context so that they need to apply their understanding of the knowledge.

As a learner don't think of understanding as a binary goal but as a type of fractal that has more detail to offer the closer you look. The one restriction is that you can only zoom further from your current position, like an onion you need to peel away one layer to get to the next.

In a broad sense knowing that you don't know (Conscious Incompetence) is a good start. Exploring the right depth to meet the needs and demands of your life gives you a good return of effort but requires continuous prioritization and learning.

For me, this instills a sense of humility for the never-ending nature of knowledge and a sense of relief that this world should never run out of things to teach us.

Some references for further reading

• Conscious Competence Ladder
• Meno's Paradox / Learners Paradox
• Head Heart Hands
• The Illusion Of Explanatory Depth (IOED)