Would it be better to spend an hour a day reading and learning, or an hour a day writing?
Which exercise is more productive? Learning 10 things, or learning 1 thing and then spending the remaining time writing about it? The purpose of writing would be, of course, to show everyone how much you know. If you just learn and learn, you’re not telling anyone how smart you are.
Writing about one thing also requires focus, a trait which is disappearing more and more as the world becomes inundated with constant streams of information.
I read a lot of business books, how-to books, self-help books, etc. They’re all different. Sometimes I wonder if I would be more successful just reading one book, over and over, and executing what it teaches.
But then I worry about that quote which says “To the man who is good with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
Yet an average idea, well executed, is better than a great idea, poorly executed. Or so they say.
The fact of the matter is that I love learning about all the different perspectives. I couldn’t stop reading their books if I tried. But part of me would love to read only one book in a year. A year is a long time.
Seth Godin wrote about the same dilemma.