Consume and Communicate

One of the greatest things you get from learning is the ability to pass on that knowledge. Not only the knowledge, but your perspective of the knowledge.

Think about what you put into your mind. The books. The shows. The videos. The stories. The emails. The chats. Whatever it is, you have an opportunity to learn in every situation.

What you touch. What you smell. What you taste. Everything in your past is learning, and allows you to make a better decision next time, if you’re conscious of it.

Just think of all the opportunities you get to participate in, if you prepare, or study in advance. If you have prior knowledge. You can move to the next step, the next stage, the next challenge.

That said, you can’t know everything.

Even Google screws up sometimes.

What I’m suggesting to you is learn as much as you can, about as much as you can.

Consume lessons now in things you might not ever need, if only for the lens you build to see the world through.

Be curious. Ask why. Ask how. Ask who.

If the information is good, it will make you think about cause and effect. The potential for good and bad outcomes. It will help you prepare for the future.

The one thing about getting older is it allows you to recognize patterns. ‘This is another one of those…’ situations. I think that’s part of wisdom. Part of knowledge. Part of experience.

Consumption of knowledge is important, and essential to your growth. It’s not only important to consume, it’s also important to communicate.

To pass on what you’ve learned.

To think through the lessons.

Neil Degrass Tyson is a great example of this. In his masterclass, he stated that 95% of what you see him say, he’s prepared in advance at some point. He is a master communicator about complex subjects, and that requires preparation.

He simplifies for the rest of us, and the way he does it is entertaining, engaging, and thought provoking.

What you may not realize is he is as good as he is because of a realization he made after his first feature interview. He spoke about all kinds of things, and what the TV wanted was a clip, a sound bite, to show and entertain their audience.

So he adapted. Adjusted. He is a master communicator, but also a lifelong learner. In his, and your lifetimes, we will go through changes we can’t even imagine. Things that are true today, won’t be true tomorrow.

And this is the situation for all of us.

If you’re good, and you keep learning, the future is a friendly place. An exciting place. A place of change and growth, and that is the gift it holds for all of us.

I’m truly excited for you. It’ll be fun!