21世紀文盲

People want to become experts at all kinds of things, but the truth is most people dont actually want to put in the effort becoming an expert really requires. Heres my question for you: has the art of becoming good at things been lost on todays instant gratification2 society?

And if we have become a society of armchair3 experts, what does that mean for those of us who actually like to get good at things? Is it easier or harder to acquire new skills given all the resources (and distractions) that exist today?

More and more our society craves4 entertainment. We love to be spectators5.

The pride and satisfaction of really learning and practicing something long enough to become good at it is competing with all forms of entertainment, and entertainment is winning.

Americans on average spend two months per year glued to the TV set.6 Kids spend nearly eight hours a day consuming media, including TV, playing video games and surfing the Internet7.

Learning and doing are losing to watching and playing.

Sure, TV and the Internet can be used to learn useful things, but they cant replace real world experience. And lets be honest, how many of those eight hours a day do you think are really spent learning?

Actual skills and knowledge have taken the back seat8. Real world skills are losing out to9 video games, and knowledge is losing out to beliefs.

Intellectuals10 are losing to those with the loudest beliefs. We know stunningly less and less and yet have stronger and stronger beliefs.

Were experts at passive consumption of media and belief without fact, but little else. If consumption alone were a business, wed all be wealthy entrepreneurs11.

I point out these sobering statistics on the lazy state of society not to depress you, but to counter an argument we all hear (and use) all the time: “Im just too busy.”12 Id love to get in shape, or learn the guitar, or spend more time with my kids or learn another language, but Im just too busy. Really? How many hours of TV did you watch this week? How much time did you spend mindlessly13 surfing the Internet?

Lets set aside14 the broader societal points for a minute. What everyone else does might be depressing, but we can only really change our own behavior. But most of us could use more doing and less consuming. If you want to acquire new skills, live an interesting life and do adventurous15 things, you have to get good at putting in the effort it takes to actually do those things.

Side note16 on definitions of “expert”: Im a big believer in relative expertise17. For most purposes, you dont need to be the worlds foremost18 expert on something to benefit from what you know. Being expert enough means knowing enough or being good enough to accomplish your goals, however modest or grand they may be.19

Think about all the things youd love to be good at or know how to do. Whats on your list of cool things you want to know and do?

Now think about how many of those things youve really put effort towards over the past year. When I say “effort,” I dont mean that you read 27 articles about it or watched a TV show on the subject. Im talking about real learning, real doing, taking classes, practicing and asking someone who knows more about it for help.

How much of that level of effort have you put in?

If youre lacking some of the abilities from your list, Ill hazard20 a guess that you havent really put much effort in. Or, maybe you put some decent effort in, but youve been bouncing around from one pursuit to another or from one method to another without seeing results.21

In either case, theres hope.

You can learn to do practically anything you want to, its just a matter of deciding what you want, focusing, putting in the time and getting serious about measuring your progress. It might also involve cutting out a little media consumption time, but I bet you were thinking that already.

With deliberate practice progress can be made, in astonishing time.22 For example, over the past three years Ive learned how to sail, taken acting classes, taken up surfing, built three successful blogs, got a lot fitter, learned enough Spanish to be useful and traveled the world for 15 out of 36 months.

Thats not to say Im an absolute expert in any of those things, but Im expert enough to have used those skills and knowledge to dramatically impact my life.

This all started with a conversation I had with myself about the life I was living vs. the life I wanted to live. I took a step back and thought about how I wanted to spend my time, what I wanted to learn and do.

Have you had that conversation with yourself yet? If so, what are you doing to make it happen? If not, what are you waiting for……

1. Alvin Toffler: 阿爾文·托夫勒（1928— ），美國當今最具影響力的社會思想家之一。他憑先后出版的《未來的沖擊》、《第三次浪潮》和《權力的轉移》等未來三部曲享譽全球，成為未來學巨擘，對當今社會思潮有廣泛而深遠的影響。

2. gratification: 滿足。

3. armchair: 只說不做的，空談的。

4. crave: 渴望。

5. spectator: 觀眾，旁觀者。

6. on average: 平均來看；be glued to: 盯著……看。

7. surf the Internet: 網上沖浪瀏覽因特網。

8. take the back seat: 居次要地位，退居二線。

9. lose out to: 輸給，被……取代。

10. intellectual: 知識分子。

11. entrepreneur: 企業家。

12. sobering: 使人清醒的；depress:使沮喪；counter: 反駁。

13. mindlessly: 不動腦筋地。

14. set aside: 把……放置一邊，不理會。

15. adventurous: 冒險的。

16. side note: 邊注。

17. expertise: 專門技能/知識。

18. foremost: 最重要的。

19. modest: 不太大的，適中的；grand:宏偉的。

20. hazard: 冒昧提出，大膽猜測。

21. bounce: 上下跳動，此處用比喻義；seeing: 看見的。

22. deliberate:慎重的；astonishing:驚人的。