messy grit First => then edit/clean Second

[PinotNoir]

I've come to realize that the best way to do anything (at least for myself) is to get dirty first and then clean later.

Examples:

Writing:
1st write a rough draft with a little bit of prior research/outline. Do NOT even edit paragraphs or prior sentences. If it's written, just keep going on to the next part.
Then when it's done, go back and create a 2nd document for the 2nd draft and begin to re-write and polish.

Working out / Running:
1st go to the gym or outside to run with very little research on what workouts to do prior. Just go out the door and hit the gym or the road. Do whatever feels right.
Then after you've been going for a week or 2, begin to research what workouts to do, technique/form, etc.

The list can go on, but I'll stop here.

On the flip side, clean/perfect first CAN work, but I've found that it can ONLY work with a mentor (again, at least for myself; may be different for others). If I take a class on Karate or a foreign language with a teacher, then being clean/perfect FIRST is actually better. But, if you wish to learn a foreign language on your own, you have to just dive in and begin memorizing/writing/reading/speaking/listening FIRST, else you'll get so caught up on being perfect that you'll get burnt out and mentally drained.

 

[Marty]

Yes yes yes. It's the way I learn everything. Especially languages.

Since this is on the Girls Chase forum, even though it's the lifestyle board—that's exactly the approach I adopted when I first attempted to apply the lessons here. After reading a few articles I just thought "To hell with this!" and got out there and opened a couple dozen girls. (It took me a while to actually achieve that, of course.)

After that, I discovered this forum, signed up and started asking questions about my mistakes. The kind folks here then helped me relate it to the theory.

Trouble is, I can't really comprehend the theory. What I mean is that I understand the paths of reasoning taken, I've memorized the connections between the concepts, but I have trouble actually internalizing it if you know what I mean.

It's like it's out there as a totally internally consistent set of propositions, which relate to one another in a complex yet entirely logical manner, but I can't quite grab hold of it and pull it down into the real world. A bit like how you might understand a work of literature inside out—the plot, the characters, their circumstances, motivations, and the events that bind them together and constrain them—but when you put the book down, the dream is broken and you go on with your life as before.