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At 15, Warren Buffet had a problem that would destroy most careers. He knew exactly what to do but couldn’t make himself do it.

He’d read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. He understood every principle. He memorized techniques, but in actual social situations all that knowledge evaporated and he found him reverting back to his old self.

This is the knowing-doing gap, the space between understanding and execution that sabotages more careers than ignorance ever will.

Buffett could have read more books, attended seminars, convinced himself they’re learning by absorbing information. Instead, he turned knowledge seeking into obsessive mastery.

He created practice scenarios. Failed conversations became data points. Socially awkward conversations became his lab.

Mastery of these skills wasn’t about learning more. It was about applying what he learned obsessively.

As engineers we face this gap constantly. As your career progresses, you consume more knowledge than you can implement. You know to organize your design tree in CAD but still release messy models. You understand system architecture but build quick fixes. You’ve studied leadership principles but avoid difficult conversations.

Knowledge without application creates false confidence, the dangerous belief that knowing equals doing.

I challenge you to bridge your gap: pick one concept you know, create your practice system and turn your knowing into doing before it calcifies into false confidence.

What’s gathering dust in your mental library?

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