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Are You an Enthusiast?

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HERE’S THE PROBLEM

I remember having a conversation with a good friend of mine, and we were talking about the “good ole days” and what’s wrong with these “young bucks” nowadays. My good friend shared with me a story about a guy he had a conversation with. He asked the younger guy what he was learning. The younger dude responded by recounting all the books he was reading and restating all of the quotes that he tweeted from the books that he read.

When he got done, my friend repeated the question, “So what are you learning? Out of all the life-changing quotes that you just restated, what are you applying? How is your life being changed?” Surprisingly (or not surprisingly depending on what category you fall into) the guy was silent. His silence answered the question with a resounding NOTHING. I’m reading, I’m studying, I’m processing…but I’m not learning anything.

WE NEED EXPERTS, NOT ENTHUSIASTS

My fear for our community is that our overemphasis on “rightness” is producing a lot of enthusiasts and very few experts. Let me explain it like this: Imagine you’re sitting in a room and the topic of cars comes up (something I know very little about). In walks a 12-year old who is a car enthusiast, and a professional Nascar driver.

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