Rules are not enough

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Don't make the mistake I made for a long time, thinking that getting to know the rules is the most important part about learning something. Memorizing the patterns and using them consistently is not what makes you the most competent with the task.

Older people know more, but the rules only hold for so long. They know for a fact that these rules have failed in certain situations and outcomes that no one taught them.

The rules are a way to summarize the norm or what you would see as the usual path. They can't prove the rules right or wrong and can't give you the missing pieces that book knowledge can't give. These people have a deep understanding and a great memory of the past situations and their outcomes. The older people have the data that's why I listen to them a lot, the younger people most at times have theory. Real data and outcomes that weren't covered by the book knowledge.

This is what makes people competent outside of the normal situations that younger people assume competence in. It's not some vague spiritual sense, but a pattern recognition skill that you can only get from experience and failures. This is the case that is outside the norm and is supposed to prove that you really have knowledge above the average.

The rules tell you what normally happens, but the exceptions tell you what actually is going on. I didn't recognize this till I had more experience to see it for myself. I didn't take the time to evaluate the unique situations that rules can't explain to me. When the rules don't make sense, you should look at the exceptions or you might get lost.

The only people who are worth paying attention to are not those who are experts at knowing rules, but rather people who have gathered the most exceptions. They have gone past rules. They have experienced enough to understand where the theory ends and where real life begins, and where things start to deviate into confusion for the novice. No amount of studying can get you to that point faster. You have to be there to experience the weirdness of the situation before you can understand this.

_{Posted using SteemX}