People Are Giving Away Their Experiences
This past Sunday my pastor, Dr. Wendell Estep of First Baptist Church of Columbia, told the story of David, and as always, my mind wrongfully started thinking about work. Dr. Estep taught that David was able to kill Goliath because of he learned how to fight from his past experiences, citing 1 Samuel:
Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.”
But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.”
- 1 Samuel 17:33-36
Sometimes nothing is better than experience. As Dr. Estep stated “don’t go looking for giants, but be prepared when one comes your way.” I’m sure having killed a lion and a bear with your bare hands is pretty good training for giant killing preparation. But growing up one saying has always stuck with me “it’s smart to learn from your mistakes. It’s even smarter to learn from the mistakes of others.”
Going up against a giant could have been a huge mistake. Luckily for David, it wasn’t and we learned a valuable lesson. When fighting a giant, make sure you have a slingshot and a rock. Oh, and having God on your side helps a good bit too.
What does all this have to do with the Internet?
Experience is becoming less and less important in many tasks. Not every task, but in many. In my line of work nothing beats real campaign and management experience. But modern communications is becoming much more about word of mouth and learning from the mistakes and accomplishments of others.
I don’t need experience or college training to learn how to edit a new video or how to build a blog. I can learn from others on websites, Facebook, and Twitter for free. Not only has the Internet given us the abilities to communicate around the clock and to search for content easily, but people are willing to give away their experiences.
Just think about how many more giants could have been knocked down if David had the Internet. =)
Here’s what you should do today. Find some great bloggers that you can trust and learn from their experiences. I learn every day from bloggers on problogger.net, techcrunch.com, techpresident.com, and techrepublican.com. I’ve joined listserves, forums, and other communities where I can ask people about their experiences when I lack them on a particular topic.
And of course, read my blog daily. =)