I can’t tell you how often I hear the statement “yeah, yeah, I know that” from struggling solopreneurs. And, for the most part, they are correct – they do know. With Google, YouTube, and websites and blogs on almost any topic, there is no shortage of places to gather knowledge. However, the problem lies not in the knowing, but rather in the doing. What are you doing with all that knowledge, and how is that knowledge being translated into action?
Too much of our time is spent consuming new knowledge but never put that great learning into action. I look at it this way—learning has two parts: comprehension and competency.
Comprehension is the act or capacity to understand something. Take, for example, telephone prospecting. If I “comprehend” my job, that means I understand the terminology and what I should be doing when I pick up the telephone, but that’s it. Comprehension is the lowest level of learning.
Competency is the culmination of the knowledge, skills, and abilities that work together to get the job done. Think of it as putting it all together and performing it day-in and day-out at a job. In our example of telemarketing, competency can only be gained by actually picking up the phone. It’s not just the knowledge that you should pick up the phone or even how to pick up the phone, but also the experience that comes through picking up the phone.
As solopreneurs, we get stuck in comprehension mode and rarely take it to the competency level.
I am guilty of doing this in my own business where I find that I often consume lots of great, meaningful information. However, unless I’m deliberate and take what I’ve learned and start applying it, I am just wasting a perfect opportunity to grow my sales.
Knowing What to Do Is Not Enough
In the book “The Knowing-Doing Gap,” authors Jeffrey Pfeiffer and Robert Satin of Stanford University say that one of the main barriers to turning knowledge into action is our tendency to equate talking about something to actually doing something. But it’s not the same—not at all.
Fear Stops Action
The biggest hindrance to doing is fear. We fear that any mistake we make will be catastrophic to our business. If making mistakes was catastrophic, my business would’ve been finished on day one. I am sure that barely a day goes by where I don’t make a mistake. It happens. If you are trying new things, you’re going to make lots of mistakes. But here’s the good news–that’s okay! All learning involves some form of failure, which allows us to refine and improve.
In my business, I like to use the 10 to 1 ratio. For every one hour of learning, I want to put in ten hours of taking action. This is not an exact ratio, but it reminds me that I have to dedicate time to the new skill and start integrating it into my work routines.
Struggles Are To Be Expected
Don’t let early struggles and poor results discourage you. A mentor once told me that if you aren’t embarrassed by looking back on some of your first efforts (like your first website or first marketing materials sales proposals), then you are waiting too long to take action.