Why have you read so much useful information but still haven’t improved?

Many of the students I have met who are engaged in operations are quite positive and motivated. In order to improve themselves, they will listen to online sharing classes, read books on operations, and read various practical articles, and they keep persisting in this way.

However, after one or two years, when you look back, you don’t seem to have made much progress, or even remain where you were. Wouldn’t the time and energy you invested before have been wasted? So what's the problem?

Based on feedback from some classmates and my own personal experience, I found that the problems mainly come from the following aspects:

1. There is a gap between the knowledge required and the knowledge learned

2. Cognitive bias

3. Focus on theory, not implementation

4. Impure Motivation for Learning

5. The dry goods themselves are relatively watery

I will explain this in detail below and I hope you can understand it.

1. There is a gap between the knowledge required and the knowledge learned

A lot of the useful information we read is actually not suitable for us at the moment.

To give a simple example, when we go to school, we know that each grade has designated textbooks that are suitable for children of different age groups.

As operations, they can be divided into junior, intermediate and senior levels based on years of service, work experience, etc. Of course, there is no uniform standard for this division. Therefore, when we position ourselves, deviations occur.

Back to the online courses, a single online course is aimed at a small group of fixed users. Due to the misalignment between the two, when learning, they feel that it does not match their needs. After the course is over, they complain: What is this about? Can't understand. Or: This is too easy! So the time was wasted.

Have an accurate assessment of yourself.

Most of us tend to estimate ourselves higher than the actual situation. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It is always good to have confidence, but don't be too ambitious.

When choosing online courses and operation books, we must accurately evaluate ourselves. For example, if you have been engaged in operations for 2 years and are proficient in data but not in user operations , and want to improve your logical ability, then you can read some in-depth materials to train your logical ability. Because people who are proficient in data often already have strong logic, but may still lack some methods and approaches. Learning from others' experience can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

On the other hand, if you are proficient in user operations but not very familiar with data and want to improve your logical ability, you must start with basic logical analysis.

Find the knowledge that suits you.

After you have an accurate assessment of yourself, you should spend some time looking for knowledge that suits you. For example, if after assessment, you find that you are at the first grade level of elementary school, you should not study the second grade curriculum, but start with the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

As for the practical knowledge, most of it does not indicate the difficulty level. Some will only give rough hints, which are suitable for initial or intermediate operations and are still not very detailed.

A good approach is to find people who are at a similar level to you and ask them what good materials and books they can recommend. This is a relatively effective method. For example, the public account "Tiger Talks about Operations" that I created is defined as being for beginner and intermediate level operations. If it is for advanced level operations, they would probably say: What is being explained seems too basic!

2. Cognitive bias

There are a thousand Harry Potters for a thousand readers.

Operations at the same stage will have different perceptions of the same content due to different ways of thinking and experiences.

For example, when I was working on mobile games , because we had some communication dealings with the channels , the business department gave our operations some training on communication skills, which was quite useful. It was found that after listening, some operators were able to apply the method skillfully in subsequent communications, while others remained the same. When you ask the reason, they will say: This is all about communication. Just let the other party receive your message.

Another operator who was doing relatively well said: I understand that there will be information loss during communication, so I will focus on repeating important needs afterwards, the effect is very good, and resources are much better than before. This is the same useful information, but due to cognitive bias, it leads to different results.

Review the past to learn new things.

Few people can fully grasp the essence of the content just by reading it once. We need to review from time to time and look at past useful information, articles, videos or books.

For example, when I was studying user behavior , I read "The Tipping Point" and "Cognitive Surplus" and gained a lot from them. You learn the core points the first time you read it. When you read it the second time, you pay attention to the details and sometimes come to a conclusion that is completely opposite to the previous one. When you read it the third time, you can say that you have understood it thoroughly. This is a good way to solve cognitive bias. If you still can’t understand it after several times, there is one last option: give up.

3. Focus on theory, not implementation

He likes to talk big but waves his hand when it comes to execution.

This is a common problem in some operations, which can be seen when making plans. The plans they make are often grand, such as holding an event on Double Eleven or updating a major version at the end of the month. But when asked about the specific form of the event and the content of the update, they are confused and their ability to implement the plan is relatively weak. Such operators often like to see high-sounding and practical information, and they come up with concepts such as knowledge monetization, community economy, Internet thinking, etc.

For example, students who work in user operations are well aware of Maslow’s user needs theory as soon as they enter the industry. They also know that when doing activities, they must satisfy users’ sense of self-esteem and bring them a sense of accomplishment, but how to do it? I was at a loss. When learning practical knowledge, I like high-sounding concepts and sneer at execution. Over time, although I have read and learned a lot, I still can't do things well.

Combine theory with practice.

When we learn practical knowledge and skills, we must deliberately apply them to practice.

I have read some tips on title creation written by Mimi Meng before, such as the entry point should be unique, it should be able to arouse curiosity, emotional resonance, etc., but it’s useless. But I do that strategy of creating multiple titles, sending them to different users to see the click data, finding the one with the best effect and rolling them out across the board. I first drafted a dozen or so titles, and then pushed them to different users. I found that the most effective ones were those that talked about rewards and skills. When put into Mimi Meng's language, they could arouse users' curiosity. This is a good example of combining theory with practice.

Provide what is missing based on the needs of implementation.

The value of operations lies in execution and results. Let’s take advertising as an example. The boss says that the product is going to be launched online and he will give you 100,000 yuan to launch it. I feel uneasy when I get the money. Which channels should I look for? How to calculate the input-output ratio? If I fail in the investment, won’t I lose my job? With these questions in mind, I learned and mastered new knowledge, and then put it into practice. As a result, I not only learned useful knowledge, but also successfully completed the work assigned by my boss. It was perfect. Finding solutions based on the problems that need to be solved at the moment is the fastest way to grow.

4. Impure Motivation for Learning

Some people study for their own pleasure, and may even deceive themselves.

And they themselves don’t know that this motive itself is impure. Such people study in order to create a positive and progressive self-image for themselves. When they encounter problems, hardships, and setbacks, they will say innocently: I have tried very hard, I have signed up for so many classes, and read so many books, but the results are not good, and there is nothing I can do! I really tried hard! When it comes to growth, although I have no credit, I have worked hard!

In fact, all you need to do is simply change your mindset and change from learning for the sake of learning to learning for the sake of improvement.

For some people, the purpose of learning is to show off to others.

In the absence of onlookers, it becomes lazy. They will often tell others what books they have read and what knowledge they have learned, and they also sign up for various classes and training in their circle of friends . (Ahem, I have shown off before, but I’m not that kind!), the purpose is to get a like from others, which is the same as showing off delicious food.

But then again, people with impure motivations for studying are still a minority after all, and the vast majority of people don't actually like to study.

5. The dry goods themselves are relatively watery

Most of the useful information you see is counterfeit.

This is a fact. I used to like reading all kinds of useful information. I felt that they made a lot of sense and I even wanted to worship them. However, with the continuous accumulation of knowledge and the improvement of my ability to distinguish right from wrong, I found that a lot of useful information is not readable. They are either guessed out of thin air, or misleading, or industry soft articles with professional terms.

Truly valuable information is like sand found in the ocean. For example, online sharing usually lasts for an hour. After listening to it, you will find that most of it is just talking about principles and nonsense, and there may be only one or two points that are valuable. If these one or two points were acquired through other means, such as articles, they might only take five minutes to master, but now it takes an hour, which is a bit of a loss.

Read articles for practical application and books for theory.

This is an experience I have summed up over the years. If you want to learn practical knowledge, just read the article, because the actual operation of specific work often does not have much content. What we need to master is how to do it, and one article is enough to introduce it completely.

For example, an offline activity plan includes time, venue, personnel, and materials. It is very simple to imitate and draw up an activity plan based on the introduction of an article. If you want to learn the theory of activities, such as the nature and impact of activities, you can find some books to read. They will explain it very thoroughly. Books are the best carrier for learning theoretical knowledge.

To sum up: the above are several main reasons why some people love to learn but have not improved. In real life, there may be other reasons that lead to failure to improve, such as encountering injustice in the workplace, changing industries for some reason, etc. Excluding various special reasons, if you want to improve yourself, the best way is to identify an industry and keep going. After working in this industry for more than five years, you will be an expert. At that time, when you look back, you will find that you have left others far behind.

The author of this article @老虎 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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