Live Today, Understand Tomorrow

One of the difficulties of learning anything new is that understanding rarely arrives on schedule.

We would like experience and understanding to occur simultaneously.

Unfortunately, reality tends to operate differently.

Experience usually arrives first.

Understanding follows later.

Running this experiment has repeatedly reminded me of this simple truth.

On any given day, I can see the numbers.

I can observe the results.

What I cannot always see is their significance.

That part often emerges later.

A disappointing result may eventually reveal itself as a normal fluctuation.

A surprising success may turn out to be less important than it first appeared.

At the time, however, neither possibility is obvious.

This creates a strange situation.

We must continue acting before understanding is complete.

We must make decisions before the full meaning of our experiences becomes visible.

In other words, we live today while understanding catches up tomorrow.

This is not merely true of affiliate marketing.

It is true of learning generally.

Most of life’s important lessons are recognised retrospectively.

At the moment they occur, they often feel confusing, uncertain, or incomplete.

Only later do we connect the dots.

The challenge is learning how to remain engaged during that period of uncertainty.

That is where active learning begins.

Not when understanding arrives.

But when we continue moving forward despite its temporary absence.

Sometimes the most important lesson of today is one we will only recognise later.