Badsleeper Life

This post was prompted by a post and discussion I saw on X. It’s an old discussion on whether lower-performing players can in fact have “better understanding” or “more knowledge” than their higher-performing counterparts.

This is a tricky subject and one I find interesting. It’s important to understand a distinction between “knowing about” something and “knowing how” to do something. These domains can intersect strongly with one another, but they can also be worlds apart. And it can be hard to see where the lines between the two are drawn.

An elite level pro invariably has tremendous “know-how”. They do what they do with effortless mastery. However, this does not necessarily mean they have a high-resolution understanding “about” what they are doing. They may have it, they may not. Indeed there are many pros who can demonstrate high aptitude, but when asked to articulate exactly what they are doing, they may be at a loss. Or worse, they may actually be mistaken about how they are doing what they are doing; while their subconscious mind executes the task with effortless mastery, their conscious mind takes on the task of describing it. But it does so from a disjointed vantage point of ignorance…Many of us have experienced the phenomenon of receiving strange, highly questionable advice from someone of undeniable prowess. 

The reverse case also exists. Individuals who have vast knowledge “about” a subject, but lack the ability to practically apply such knowledge as “knowing-how.” This is the important part. The original post describes this as simply “being bad mechanically.” I won’t deny there are instances where this could be the case. Mechanics matter. If you ask a top player to suddenly play on a different controller, or if they become injured, you will of course see a drop-off in their performance.

But this is often not the full story. Players with abundant “knowledge about” are often not merely lacking mechanically, they often do not possess sufficient knowledge within the domain of “knowing-how”. The domain of knowing-how is one of EXPERIENCE; of living through countless scenarios and training the subconscious mind to act BEFORE the conscious mind even has time to process. This is not pure mechanics. It is the realm of brain activity that, though untouchable by our conscious-mind-chatter, is unbelievably powerful and capable. I’ve encountered Tekken players who are loaded with “knowledge about” Tekken, but seem to not even be aware of the domain of knowledge that is “knowing-how”. It’s the kind of difference between describing the motions involved in riding a bicycle and actually knowing how to ride one without tipping over. You can call that mechanics, but I see it as experience-derived, subconsciously-programmed knowledge.

In between the hypothetical extreme cases of someone who is “all know-how and zero know-about” or “all know-about but zero know-how”, there are individuals who possess combinations of the two. Both domains are important and their importance can vary based on context. You can probably get through life strictly “knowing-how” to walk, and not knowing anything about what the human body is doing while walking. In another context, perhaps if you become injured, you may need a physiotherapist to save the day, one who knows everything there is to know about how a human walks.

Because of the misunderstanding of the two domains, you’ll often encounter people with misguided beliefs. Some examples: 1. Whoever is the best at doing something, surely has the most to teach you about it. 2. If someone can’t do “X” at a high level, they have nothing to teach you about doing “X” at a high level. 3. This person knows everything there is to know ABOUT “X”, so they must also have tremendous knowledge HOW to do “X”.

Okay, so that was a lot of words. And some are probably saying, “What am I supposed to make of all of this? Which domain is better? What are you even talking about?” Well. I don’t know.

But for me, the short of it is this: learning is an unimaginably complex process. It is personal. Unique. It involves translating “knowledge about” into “knowledge how” and vice versa. Repeating this process back and forth many times. It is about developing the two domains in a way that produces results FOR YOU.  

There is often something to be learned from all sorts of different people, of all different skill levels. You should take in information and assess it according to its merits and whether it makes sense TO YOU. People who are open-minded, hungry for new information, and hungry for the opportunity to TRY OUT new ideas for themselves, are often the most successful. 

Those who seek out gurus who will spoon-feed info and hand-hold them down the path are unlikely to spend enough time walking the path alone, getting lost, and finding the way for themselves.