Reflection on Roger Schank's 'Expectation Failure'. Schank suggests that learning is achieved through expectation failure. You have a mental model for how something works, then you encounter an event or data that breaks your mental model. You incorporate that new information and adjust your mental model. 

The strongest way to learn is to have a hypothesis and then act on it. For example, knowing how a saw works in your head and then actually using a saw to cut wood and realising it's rather hard to cut perfectly straight. 

A weaker version of expectation failure is encountering new information you were not looking for. For example, reading leisurely about France and learning that it was called Gaul in ancient times.

The implication is that the learning by doing is a far more effective way of learning than reading and absorbing facts. Unused facts dissipate from memory far more quickly.

Two of the best aphorisms that conveys the truth of this world:

Time and tide wait for no man. The world keeps moving on. It won't wait for you. Don't waste time. Opportunities come and go. They won't wait for you. Someone else may spot them and grab them. Be ready to grab opportunities. 

You go to war with the army you have. War (any undesirable circumstance) occurs. They are inevitable. You are forced deal with them with the capabilities you have available, so always be building up your capabilities. It's also a reminder that the way you should engage the 'war' reflects the capabilities you have, not the capabilities you wish you had. Be practical and realistic, know yourself and your capabilities.

WIN - A Formula for Success

W stands for 'will'. An indomitable will is sometimes required. If there's a will there's a way. A willingness to succeed. Ambition. 

I stands for 'intelligence'. This covers the ability to think strategically, skills and capabilities to do something. To pick the right objectives, the right paths.

N stands for 'negotiation'. This covers the social ability to navigate with and through people. You cannot achieve much by yourself.  Eg you want to be a successful writer? You still need to work with people.

 Are certfications valuable? Consider how many cybersecurity certifications are available. Yet hackers and scammers do not have to acquire certifications to achieve their capabilities. 

When you try to apply guidances and frameworks from books and struggle to make them work in the real world, consider this perspective: the guidance you find in books are merely guides to touch up and polish what you need to do. They cannot contain everything you need to do. But they do provide advise that helps you polish what you need to do. Whoever wrote the book you are reading doesn't know your particular circumstance, so they absolutely cannot provide specific advice. But they can provide general advice. The value of knowledge contained in books is they expose you to ideas and experience that others have encountered and learned. It is still up to you to apply them appropriately to your situation.