What's the difference between knowledge and experience, and how does you brain process both? Which is more important for creative thinking? Buffer's Belle Beth Cooper investigates. Show
This post originally appeared on the Buffer blog. When we shared this image from the @Buffer Twitter account recently, it got me thinking. The tweet resulted in over 1,000 retweets, which somehow was an indication that a lot of people seemed to agree with this statement. There's a key difference between knowledge and experience and it's best described like this: The original is from cartoonist Hugh MacLeod, who came up with such a brilliant way to express a concept that's often not that easy to grasp. The image makes a clear point—that knowledge alone is not useful unless we can make connections between what we know. Whether you use the terms "knowledge" and "experience" to explain the difference or not, the concept itself is sound. Lots of great writers, artists and scientists have talked about the importance of collecting ideas and bits of knowledge from the world around us, and making connections between those dots to fuel creative thinking and new ideas. G/O Media may get a commission Wayfair End-of-Year Clearance Sale Sitewide sales This is a really fun, inspiring topic to read about, so I collected some quotes and advice from my favorite creative thinkers about the importance of making connections in your brain. I've added emphasis to the important parts, but if you have time I'd recommend reading the whole post and even digging into the sources I've linked to. To start with though, let's look at some research that shows intelligence is closely linked with the physical connections in our brains. Intelligence and Connections: Why Your Brain Needs to Communicate Well with ItselfResearch from the California Institute of Technology showed that intelligence is something found all across the brain, rather than in one specific region:
One of the researchers explained that the study showed the brain working as a distributed system:
The study also supported an existing theory about intelligence that says general intelligence is based on the brain's ability to pull together and integrate various kinds of processing, such as working memory. At Washington University, a research study found that connectivity with a particular area of the prefrontal cortex has a correlation with a person's general intelligence. This study showed that intelligence relied partly on high functioning brain areas, and partly on their ability to communicate with other areas in the brain. Aside from physical connectivity in the brain, being able to make connections between ideas and knowledge we hold in our memories can help us to think more creatively and produce higher quality work. Connections Fuel Creativity: Nothing Is OriginalSteve Jobs is an obvious person to reference whenever you're talking about creativity or innovation, so I wasn't surprised to find that he has spoken about making connections before. This great quote is from a Wired interview in 1996:
Jobs went on to explain that experience (as we saw in the image at the top of this post) is the secret to being able to make connections so readily:
Maria Popova is arguably one of the best examples (and proponents) of what she calls "combinatorial creativity." That is, connecting things to create new ideas:
She's given a talk on this at a Creative Mornings event before, and made some great points. Being able to read about a wide range of topics is often one of of the most important elements. I really liked how she pointed out the way our egos affect our willingness to build on what others have done before:
My favorite part of this talk is Popova's LEGO analogy, where she likens the dots of knowledge we have to LEGO building blocks:
Author Austin Kleon is someone who immediately comes to mind whenever the topic of connections and remixing art comes up. Kleon is the author of Steal Like An Artist, a book about using the work of others to inspire and inform your own. It starts off like this:
Kleon is inspiring because he's so upfront about how the work of other people has become part of his own work. He's also keen on the phrase I quoted from Maria Popova above, that "nothing is original":
If you're looking for advice on creating more connections between the knowledge you have (and collecting even more knowledge), Kleon's book is a great place to start. He offers suggests like: Scientific Thinking Is All About Making ConnectionsWhen it comes to the field of science, making connections between those dots of knowledge seems to be just as important. In The Art of Scientific Investigation, Cambridge University professor W. I. B. Beveridge wrote that successful scientists "have often been people with wide interests," which led to their originality:
He also suggested that scientists should expand their reading outside of their own field, in order to add to their knowledge (so they would have more dots when it came time to connect them, later):
Lastly, science writer Dorian Sagan agrees that science is about connections:
I'll leave you with some suggestions for improving your own ability to make connections. Add to Your Knowledge: the Power of New ExperiencesAfter all, the more knowledge you have, the more connections you can make. Start by reading more, reading more widely, and exploring new opportunities for gathering knowledge (for instance, try some new experiences—travel, go to meetups or take up a new hobby). As researcher Dr.Duezel explained when it comes to experiencing new things:
So trying something new and forcing a gentle brain overload can make a dramatic improvement for your brain activity. Keep Track of Everything (Especially in the Shower)As Austin Kleon suggests, take a notebook (or your phone) with you everywhere and take notes. Don't expect your brain to remember everything—give it a hand by noting down important concepts or ideas you come across. As you do this, you may remember previous notes that relate (hey, you're making connections already!)—make a note of those as well. You can do this even when you're in the shower with something like Acqua Notes. Review Your Notes DailyGoing over your notes often can help you to more easily recall them when you need to. Read through what you've made notes of before, and you might find that in the time that's passed, you've added more knowledge to your repertoire that you can now connect to your old notes! In fact, this used to be one of Benjamin Franklin's best kept secrets. Every morning and every evening he would review his day answering one simple question:
Here is his original daily routine: No doubt you have some great ideas of your own—let us know in the comments what works for you. The secret to creativity: being able to make connections | Buffer Belle is a Content Crafter at Buffer, where she writes about productivity, lifehacking, writing, and social media. She also co-founded Melbourne startup Hello Code and spends most of her free time in the theatre. Which is better experience or knowledge?Experience can give you more knowledge
You can acquire a lot of knowledge by reading and teaching, but there are also ways to accumulate knowledge through experience. Knowledge is theoretical, but experience is distinguished by the fact that you can put into practice what you have learned in a book.
What is the relationship between experience and knowledge Tok?Personal experience enables you to internalize the knowledge, apply the knowledge for actual performance, and customize the knowledge for you.
Does knowledge come before experience?We know that rational knowledge exists before experience, so if to exist is to experience we must always have both sources of knowledge.
What is knowledge and experience called?expertise. noun. special skill or knowledge that you get from experience, training, or study.
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