REFLECTION
Why Expert Advice Tops Clicking The Further You Grow.
What no one tells you about “learning from the best.”
We all have those experts we admire. The writers, thinkers, and builders who seem miles ahead of us. Their words hit, their ideas land, their success feels like a roadmap we can follow.
So, we consume everything, free content, paid content, long threads, deep dives.
But… Ever felt like sometimes, you don’t REALLY get them.
You get the gist. You nod along. But the insight doesn’t “click” in your bones. Their words feel like empty calories, nutritious for them, indigestible for you.
And you assume the problem is you.
You tell yourself What do you know. If they say so, it must be so. Or so your mind claims…
On account they made millions or built an empire, they must be right, and you, rightly or wrongly, follow along and do as advised…
Albeit, as of late, I noticed something unsettling:
I stopped reading experts I loved. Not out of rebellion, but detachment. Their ideas felt too… far removed.
During a journaling session, it became obvious why. You can follow someone’s path…
But you can’t borrow their beliefs
Think about it… Aren’t their shared beliefs soaking up our expertise?
Your destination isn’t the outcome, the journey itself becomes your destination. — Kieran Drew
Today’s experts have been along their journey for years. Now, they share the “after” the part shaped by years of failures, iterations, and personal battles.
Their insights today are the result of dozens of versions of themselves.
Take their beliefs at face value, and you choose the shortcut. You throw out learning, taking the journey as the destination, and choose to skip the part where you earn those beliefs.
The things that compound.
Your growth factors don’t depend on how much $ you made, or how many articles you wrote. It depends on the actions you’ve been consistently, continuously taking to get there. The small decisions, actions, and steps that compound.
And as life has it, those things don’t compound in a straight line.
- Your insights stretch, snap, and change with every problem you face.
- Your beliefs evolve as you survive tougher seasons.
- Your principles sharpen as you make your own mistakes.
Experts get to their clarity because they walked through their own chaos. Their advice is built on layers you haven’t lived yet. When you skip those layers, something strange happens:
You lose your own voice.
The relevancy gap.
Expert ideas stop clicking, not because they’re bad, but because they’re too refined for your current stage.
Whereas, I am wrestling with beginner problems, they’re speaking from decades of clarity.
Whereas I am fighting for survivability, to keep the dream going, they’re bringing idealistic stuff that I can’t, and shouldn’t be wooed by now, since they may really suck me dry.
I don’t need frameworks, or what’s best, after they tried everything, I want to build my own momentum through doing all that stuff.
And to that end, you’ll build your own set of beliefs and opinions, instead of being fed some so refined you can’t internalize, nor refute.
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Think about it…
If you’re given beliefs so refined, whatever you can think and articulate right now doesn’t come close to comparing. Wouldn’t they overwrite your current beliefs… with something that’s ultimately not yours.
On the bigger plans, hindering your growth.
The real growth.
The journey of learning is an endless curve.
And for the one growing, it means constant change of views, opinions, standings, beliefs, and values.
Beliefs need time, experience, and mistakes to mature.
If you adopt someone else’s fully polished worldview without living the steps that created it, your mind rejects it. Not consciously, but quietly, through resistance, confusion, and detachment.
Your actions show it even further. Since you can’t uphold things you barely understand the surface of. least to say, convey them to others.
Shortcuts are good, maybe even necessary, but if they harm the long-term view… what’s the point?
The true way of relevancy
Start from the self.
- What you know.
- What you value.
- What you consistently do.
- What you can stand behind without shaking.
Bear in mind that…
You can’t sell diffidence. You can’t write insight you don’t fully believe. You can’t pretend depth; you can only earn it.
And in a world where “being you” is the final moat, the ultimate differentiation, the worst thing you can do is fill your head with ideas that don’t belong to you.
Borrow tools, not identity.
Borrow methods, not meaning.
Sure, we all want others to look up to us, admire us for our depth and insights.
And maybe, imprinting what the best say seems like a surefire method. I get that.
But I also understand, in Naval Ravikant’s words, the leverage personal thoughts can give.
Your thoughts raw, imperfect, evolving are the only leverage you truly own.
Even if they don’t compare to the greats yet.
That’s the point.
Cheers.
P.S. I wanted to quickly talk about where this idea came from.
Well… aside from the nagging feeling, and detachment I mentioned, after two/three years of constant information consumption, I noticed that many creators who build in public have changed their beliefs repeatedly over the years. Systems, Principles, Life Philosophies. Everything evolves.
Personally, this felt as real as it could be. I could taste growth right there. I realized that…
If they’re allowed to outgrow their past selves… why am I trying to squeeze myself into their present one?
I had to elaborate more on it, mainly for my own sake, since, as Bejakovic says (iterated).
Everything that we write about is most likely mirrored in ourselves, situation and context included. Incidentally, most times, we’re writing as much for you as it is for us.
Edited for Activated Thinker by Ashley Schmitt
