We're Never Prepared Enough To Learn A New Skill

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(1) The Idea: Don’t Obsess Over The Basics

2025 has been a massive year of learning for me. In a span of six-months, I've learned to

• Launch a digital product
• Use Photoshop and HTML to design A Mug of Insights' new site
• Master audio in Adobe Audition for my podcast episodes
• Challenge myself with a new martial art

These were all things I've been thinking about learning for years, but something was holding me back: I never felt prepared enough. Some call it imposter syndrome, while others use the excuse: I could never do x. But in my experience, this learning paralysis stems from one thing: obsessing over the basics.

The ordinary progression is to practice the basics first, then progress to the intermediate tricks, and finally wield all the tools of a master. But after liberating myself from this fixed way of viewing learning, I saw that this method is ineffective at its best, and completely counterproductive at its worst.