Many years ago, I met someone at a conference in Sydney who told me he’d spent the last 12 months reading books and taking courses to help prepare for starting his first business. He hadn’t taken any real actions or put any skin in the game. He was stuck in the cycle of “learning” but not doing. Something I call The Learning Loop.
The Learning Loop is a common trap that you’ve likely found yourself stuck in before. You spend all your time learning and doing things around the thing, but not the thing itself. You read books, watch courses, listen to podcasts, talk to people about your ideas… but you don’t take action.
In this article, I’ll show you how to escape it. If you’d prefer to watch the video version, here it is.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- Why you get stuck in the Learning Loop
- Why The Learning Loop is so addictive (false progress)
- Action-centric learning vs. consumption-centric learning
- The mindshift you need to escape the Learning Loop
- How to get addicted to real learning, not procrastinative learning
- The one action you can take today to start turning things around
Let’s dive in.
Why you get stuck in the learning loop
It’s tempting to think that The Learning Loop is a simply a modern problem. With the internet, information is more accessible than ever. You can can download books for free. Listen to one of the many podcasts. Or scroll Twitter for hours and machine-gun your brain with new ideas.
But this problem is not new. Samuel Butler in the late 19th century dealt found himself lamenting about the uselessness of knowledge acquired uncritically.
“There is nothing less powerful than knowledge unattached, and incapable of application. That is why what little knowledge I have has done myself personally so much harm. I do not know much, but if I knew a good deal less than little I should be far more powerful. The rule should never be to learn a thing till one is pretty sure one wants it, or that one will want it before long so badly as to not be able to get on without it.”
We know that knowledge by itself doesn’t do anything, yet we still fall into this trap of acquiring it without putting it into action.
Why?
Because The Learning Loop is, at its core, procrastination masquerading as important work. It’s neither important nor work. But it’s so easy to get stuck in because it doesn’t look like procrastination. You’re not watching Netflix or playing video games… you’re reading books. You’re not wasting time browsing online stores… you’re listening to an important business podcast.
But there’s a reason why you procrastinate. For me, every time I’ve found myself getting pulled into the Learning Loop, it’s because there’s work in front of me that is uncomfortable in some way. Maybe it’s a decision that I’m uncertain about but need to make, and I’m trying to find certainty where none can be found. Maybe it’s a big project that has a chance of failure. Maybe it’s self-doubt that I’m facing, and I’m trying to learn more to suppress that self-doubt (which doesn’t work). Or maybe it’s simply that it’s easier to read and “learn” than sit down and focus.
When you’re faced with actions to take that are uncomfortable, you have three options: you can take the actions (which is what you should do), you can procrastinate in a very obvious way, or you can pretend you’re taking the actions by doing things around the periphery—which is where you get stuck in the Learning Loop.
The latter allows you to save face while still avoiding the discomfort.
One of the most common causes, in my experience, is uncertainty.
Perhaps you want to start a business but you’re not sure what, or you’re not sure if it will work. And so you’re faced with uncertainty. From uncertainty flows many other uncomfortable emotions: self-doubt, fear of failure, fear of success, how others will perceive you, and so on.
While acquiring more information can help you reduce uncertainty—and if that’s the situation you’re in then it should be done—there comes a point where you have enough information. In the case of doing something new, that’s usually quite early on, because you don’t know what you don’t know anyway. So you’re “theoretical learning” is only so valuable compared to getting in the arena.
The point where you have enough information is not the point where you have absolute certainty. I’ve felt absolute certainty about only a few things in my life, and I didn’t get there by reading books and learning a bunch of stuff.
You must take action in uncertainty. If you wait for certainty then you’ll never take it. Most things worth doing are encased in uncertainty and doubt—and the only true way to reduce that uncertainty and doubt is to start on the path. The more you can get comfortable with operating in uncertain situations, the better. Mainly because as soon as you make progress on something or achieve something and reach the next level, you’re faced with a different shade of uncertainty and doubt. If you’re ambitious, I don’t think it ever goes away. You just learn to wrestle with it better.
Why the learning loop is so addictive
We’ve looked at why we get stuck in the Learning Loop. Why is it so hard to escape?
First, because The Learning Loop is seductive. It promises the same dopamine hits and feeling of progress that comes from doing the work, without any of the downsides. The problem is that it’s a fake progress—you’re not actually moving along the path to outcomes or results. You just feel like you are. It’s not until you look back, or have a moment of clarity, that you realize you’ve wasted your time.
That fake progress is addictive. The hits aren’t guaranteed. They aren’t on a regular schedule. It’s like a slot machine. And so you spend a lot of time reading books or listening to podcasts. Most of the information doesn’t register with you or mean anything. But occasionally a sentence or phrase will pop out at you. A lightbulb will go off. You’ll think, “this is exactly what I needed to hear.”
And then, instead of applying it, you continue on the path of consumption—seeking the next lightbulb moment that gives you a brief feeling of clarity and satisfaction, but doesn’t move you towards taking the action.
The more lightbulb moments that you experience without converting them into action, the more addicted you become. The deeper you enter into the loop. The harder it becomes to escape. You’ve developed a pattern of behaviour: read/listen/learn → reward → reversion to read/listen/learn → reward.
So we have a potent combination here.
The seduction of the feeling of progress and reward, without any of the uncertainty and downsides that come from doing the actual work. And the intermittent insights and lightbulb moments that keep you addicted to consumption-centric learning.
Action-centric learning
Action-centric learning doesn’t come as easily as consumption-centric learning. It quite often involves risk, potential for rejection and failure, hard effort, and embracing uncertainty.
For example, let’s say you want to learn sales. The consumption-centric learner who’s stuck in The Learning Loop reads all the popular books, listens to podcasts, watches call recordings of sales calls and writes down notes. This is easy to do. It doesn’t expose them to any downside, any potential for rejection or hard effort. But it also doesn’t provide them with any real skill development. All they have learned is theory.
The action-centric learner acts. They know that the only true way to learn sales is to do it. To get on calls and learn iteratively. To make mistakes. To get rejected. To practice. And so they put themselves in a position where they are forced to learn by doing. They would do well to read books and listen to podcasts on the side—but this is in support of what they’re already doing. Consumption-centric learning should be used to help you learn at a faster rate.
Action-centric learning involves being in the territory, not just looking at the map. You can read about how to handle sales objections in a book, but it’s not until you’re faced with those objections from another human being—who is their own character—and manage to either overcome them or not that you actually make progress on learning the skill.
There are certain lessons that can only come from being in the territory.
Important note:
I want to make it clear that there’s nothing wrong with reading books or listening to podcasts. For all the hate they get, self-help books put me on the right path when I was younger and I’m incredibly grateful for that. Likewise, there have been key podcasts that have been influential in my thinking.
But I do believe that consumption is 10x more effective if you’re already working hard towards a goal. Not only because you’ll have a better filtering mechanism for what’s important information and what’s not. And you’re less likely to get pulled into pure consumption mode.
Another caveat is that there are also projects that require vast amounts of “consumption.” Perhaps you’re working on a YouTube video essay and you need to read 8 books as part of your research process. But that’s action-centric learning because it’s directed towards a specific goal. Even then, inside such a project, it’s easy to fall into the Learning Loop and do far more research than necessary before you take action.
Get addicted to real progress that comes from doing — escaping the learning loop
Escaping the Learning Loop is simple, not easy. Again, it’s a behavior pattern that’s been developed over time. It’s a habit. So we need to replace it with a better one.
Not only should you expect this to be a challenge—which is a good thing, because challenge is what leads to growth—you should also realize that it’s unlikely to be a one-time event. The Learning Loop is always there, waiting for you to fall back in. So you need to work on escaping and then work on staying out. If you do get trapped again, don’t get discouraged. Simply recognize what you’re doing and then work on getting yourself out. As you do this more and more, you’ll become aware of the triggers that pull you into it—whether it’s uncertainty, doubt, or something else. You’ll notice it happening, and you can stop it before you end up deep in it.
Let me share some useful reframes and tactics that have helped me.
Trust in your ability to figure it out
When you watch a child play, they’re figuring stuff out. They’re learning how the world works. They’re using their hands, they’re taking actions, they’re moving and manipulating things and seeing how they respond.
The square object doesn’t fit in the circular hole. They try the next one. It fits. That’s real learning.
We forget that we have this natural ability to figure things out on our own. It’s drilled out of us during school and university, which prioritize rote learning and theory. But it’s still there, hidden below the surface.
I gave the example of learning sales earlier. The first time I had to do sales, I read a ton of books and studied during the 3 days before my first call. I had a script in front of me. The whole lot. I prepared. But in hindsight, this preparation paradoxically made me less prepared because it put me in a state where I was too cerebral about it all.
Years later, when faced with another opportunity to do sales, I did the complete opposite. I told myself I’d just take the calls, knowing that the majority will not close, but I’ll figure out how to get better as I do them. Not only was it far more relaxing taking this approach, it was way more fun too.
When you trust in your ability to figure it out, you can relax into the actions. You don’t have to anxiously research and plan and try to find the optimal approach. You recognize that it’s going to take some volume of work, and you get going.
Change your consumption habits
In some severe cases, the answer may be to limit as much consumption as possible. But if you’re doing work that requires some degree of consumption, such as writing, like I do, then you’re going to need to be doing some level of consumption.
Instead of trying to limit and remove the habit entirely, consider changing what you consume. Instead of the latest self-help books, venture back further and read time-testing works. Instead of scrolling Twitter, read a biography. Consume material that reminds you of who you are and leads you to action, not material that pulls you in a hundred different directions like a social media feed.
Cut out things that pull you out of action and momentum
For me, it was Twitter. I was addicted to it. I’d wake up every morning and scroll while I was on the toilet. Inevitably there’d be a tweet from someone that would pique my interest. Maybe some sort of business model or idea, and I’d start thinking about it, and then I’d start wondering whether I was doing the right thing in my business or not. While there’s nothing wrong with new ideas that can change the trajectory of your business, there is something wrong with being fed new ideas every day that pull you off course and lead you to overthink what you’re doing.
For you, it might be something else. Maybe you’re a self-help book junkie and you go through regular phases where you try to use self-help books as a “fix” for feeling uncertain and unsure. You re-set your goals, plan out your year again, feel the fake progress that comes with that, and then you repeat the cycle a few weeks or months later. What would happen if you decided to not do this, but rather to sit with the uncertainty and deal with it only through action?
Understand that learning by doing is never easy
If it were, then it wouldn’t be learning.
It’s normal to feel unsure about what’s going on. It’s normal to feel uncertain. It’s normal to feel a bit anxious. That’s part of being human. What makes it worse is trying to perfect everything before you start. Trying to acquire what you tell yourself is necessary information, but is really just procrastinating before you even kick off the start line.
It’s easy to fall back into The Learning Loop when you encounter difficulty. You trick yourself into thinking that the challenge you’re faced with is due to a lack of information and knowledge, when quite often it’s simply that you feel challenged because you haven’t yet built the skills required—and you learn skills through the practice and being challenged. To mistake a skill problem as an information problem will pull you back into the Learning Loop, because you’ll tell yourself that what you’re missing is a piece of information, when really what you’re missing is the 100 hours you still need to put in.
And that’s why learning by doing is hard. Because doing is almost always harder than simply reading or acquiring information.
Minimum viable learning: solving information bottlenecks
Occasionally you will encounter bottlenecks along your journey that are a result of a lack of information.
Perhaps you need to hire someone and you’ve never done it before. It would do you well to read up on some best practices around hiring. Good interview questions to ask. And so on.
But as with most information bottlenecks, there’s the risk of endlessly reading about it and never doing the hard action: hiring someone.
So you need to approach it with the right mentality. Something like, “I’ll read this one book on hiring and then I’ll make the hire. I know there’s more books and articles that I could read, but I’m pretty sure hiring is a skill and I’m never going to feel perfectly comfortable doing it the first few times (or ever).” Set constraints. Acquire minimum viable information that enables you to move ahead in a way that’s not completely blind.
What if I don’t know what to do?
Every time I find myself dealing with this question it’s because my head is in the clouds and I’m ignoring what’s in front of me. For example, the question of “What should i do with my life?” It’s an important question. One that requires a mix of action and introspection. But if you keep asking that question for years and years without taking any sort of action, are you getting closer?
Pull yourself back to earth. Look at the simplest actions you can take that are right in front of you. Not sure if you want to be an artist or build a business? Come back and ask that question once you’ve created 10 paintings and launched your own product. Start doing both at the same time and see what sticks.
“Do the things that you can see; they will show you those you cannot see. By doing what you can you will gradually get to know what it is that you want to do and cannot do, and so to be able to do it.” — Samuel Butler
Conclusion: The ONE Action You Can Take Today
If you’ve made it to the end of this article, and it resonated with you—you feel like you’re stuck in the learning loop—then you’re faced with a choice:
- Do you continue to remain stuck in the loop, clicking on another YouTube video or picking up the next book, but avoiding the actions that you need to take?
- Or do you embrace the discomfort, uncertainty and challenge, and take the first step into the arena?
I recommend you do the latter.
If you have a list of projects and tasks you’ve been putting off, then start there. What’s the ONE thing you could work on over the next week or month that would give you momentum? That you’d be proud of completing or making progress on?
Identify it, then resolve to work on it. Expect it to be hard. Expect to feel the nagging voice in your head that tells you you need more information or need to go back to the drawing board. Continue. Do the work. Take the actions.
