You've got this! You can do it! Hey there! We know you've got some great know-how up your sleeve. Why not put it to good use and get started on those projects you've been dreaming of? We all know that feeling when we know something is simple but then we ask ourselves, "How on earth can I do this?" That's what I call the know-can-do. This book is all about that question!

I'm so excited to tell you about the amazing team behind this book! It was written by Ken Blanchard, Paul J. Meyer, and Dick Ruhe. The last two authors might not be as familiar to everyone, but the first author, Ken Blanchard, is a world-renowned management guru. One of his most famous books is called One Minute Manager. The book is really short, but it gets right to the heart of what it means to be a manager. It's no surprise, then, that this wonderful book has sold an amazing 18 million copies and has been translated and published in more than 25 languages around the world! Blanchard is also a very versatile guy. He's not just an author and speaker, but also a business consultant! He's known as one of the most insightful and thoughtful people in the business world today, and it's easy to see why! In 2005, Amazon named him one of the 25 most famous, best-selling authors of all time and inducted him into the Amazon Hall of Fame! As a true expert in the field of business management leadership, he's often invited to share his insights through training and lectures on leadership methods and concepts. He noticed something interesting. Every time he gave a speech, many of the audience members nodded in recognition, saying, "Yes, that's right," but they went back to doing things the same way as before, with no change. He was really confused. He couldn't understand why people knew a truth but couldn't put it into practice. If they knew they couldn't do it, what was the point of studying these management methods? He decided to turn to his good friend Paul Meyer, the second author of this book, for help.

Paul Meyer is also a very energetic person, full of life and enthusiasm! I'm happy to say that the global sales of his company's products have exceeded 2 billion US dollars! His company is all about finding ways to motivate people. So after hearing Brandja's ideas, Meyer said, "Let me help you research it, my friend." The business management guru and the successful motivational expert worked together on this project, so what did the third author, Luh, do? It turned out that he was an amazing public speaker, and he was really passionate about promoting this idea. So the three of them—Brandja, Meyer, and Luh—got together to form a team to specifically research and promote "knowing and doing," which is all about how to achieve "unity of knowledge and action."

You know, it's so easy to get stuck in a rut where we can't put our knowledge into practice. Have you ever read a book, attended a lecture, or even gotten a shot of adrenaline and suddenly felt inspired to change? We've all been there! We even post a status update on our social media accounts saying that we are working hard to become a better version of ourselves. But, in the end, we only end up seeing a more ridiculous version of ourselves, don't we? Oh, why is that? We all have one of these reasons: either we don't think we have the perseverance to do it, or we don't understand it well enough to put it into practice. If you don't understand it well, it can be tough to do it well. It can be tricky to combine knowledge and action, right?

We often think that we just don't have what it takes to do what we know. And it's true, sometimes we just don't have enough motivation. Oh, I just don't have the perseverance to complete it! And the other thing is that I don't have a good understanding of it and I don't get it. I'm sure you'll agree that this makes a lot of sense. But the author says that the reason most of us can't do it is that there's actually a big gap in our thinking. We're missing a key link between knowing and doing. I'd love to know which link it is! The author kindly points out that the method is not quite right.

We all think that once we know something, the next step is to do it, don't we? If we don't do it as well as we'd like, it could be because we don't fully understand it, or we could just need a little practice. But the author says that there's actually a bit of a gap between knowing and doing. There's an extra step in between – the method. The process is not about knowing first and doing second. It's about understanding first, getting the method right second, and then executing properly, i.e., doing it. The author believes that if you get the method right, any issues you might have with knowing or executing will naturally fall into place. After all, these two things are closely linked!

So, you might be wondering, what exactly is this method? Guess what? The author says it's just two words! All you have to do is repeat! Repeat, repeat, repeat! This is a really important method for moving from knowing to doing. You might be thinking, "How can studying for just half a day result in such a simple concept as 'repeat'?" "I know, it might sound a little strange at first." Don't worry! You need to know that the author, Brandja, has a magical ability to greatly simplify complex problems. Take, for instance, what a manager needs to do. There are so many factors and skills involved! But, thankfully, there's a best-selling book called "The One-Minute Manager" that can help us understand it all. He can even boil the whole process down to just two words: repetition. But here's the thing: the author's meaning of "repetition" is not just simple and boring repetitive practice. It's actually intermittent repetition, which means that you repeat it at different times at regular intervals. Secondly, even though the repetition system is simple and to the point, it's actually backed by a whole bunch of other methods.

For now, let's leave the core keyword "repeat" aside and come back to it at the end. Don't worry, we'll get to it! Let's start by looking at why we know but can't do it. The author's research and analysis shows that there are three main reasons why we have trouble putting what we know into practice: information overload, negative filtering, and lack of follow-up. If we can just solve these three little problems one by one, we can close that gap between knowing and doing! And when we understand the solutions to these three problems, we'll also see why repetition is the key to the entire method.

Let's dive in and look at the first reason, information overload, first. Have you ever wondered what information overload is? For example, we listen to audio on the Get App, buy bestsellers to read, and take training courses, etc. We're constantly receiving new knowledge, but in fact, it has exceeded our ability to absorb it. I'm sure you can relate to this! I'd love to know why this is the case! It's because learning new things is so much more exciting than using what we already know. We're all used to constantly learning new things! Let's say you're learning about communication methods. Then, you see a talk about how to read efficiently. I know you're really interested in reading efficiently right now, so I'll leave out the communication methods for now. I'd love to know why! I totally get it! It's like when you already know something, you don't want to spend time reading it again, right? I don't know about you, but I think that would be a waste of time! If there's new knowledge to be gained, it's always a good idea to learn it as quickly as you can! This way of thinking can actually lead to information overload, which nobody wants! It's totally normal to want to learn new things all the time! But this can sometimes make it harder to learn things. Why is that? It's so easy to forget that repeated reading or practicing knowledge that has been learned in the past brings great value. It's so important to remember that every repetition or practice brings a completely different understanding and perception. We often only see the sense of gain that comes from learning new things, but there's so much value in spending time repeatedly learning existing knowledge. It allows us to have a deeper perception and understanding, which is something we can all benefit from!

But here's the tricky part: there are only 24 hours in a day! So, where does that much time come from? So, what should we do? The author kindly suggests that we try the strategy of "less is more." In other words, if we can't learn so much, then we should repeat learning the knowledge that is really important and essential. This is totally in line with the views of the book Essentia mentioned by Chengjia in the previous book.

I know it might sound a little strange, but why can't we live a good life if we know too much? The reason is that if we know too much, we need to know less but more deeply. Take audiobooks, for instance. It's not about racing to get your hands on the next hot release. It's about immersing yourself in the content that speaks to you. If you find it useful, it's a great idea to buy the book and read it again and again! It's only by spending time focusing on what you already know and really getting to know it inside out that you can truly understand the truth behind that knowledge. The author was once invited to give a speech to the management of a company. Before the speech, the company's president pulled him aside and said, "I invited you here to reinforce the things we've been repeating for years, not to point us in a new direction." This had a big impact on the author, and it was a very important realization: focus on a few key things and repeat them over and over again! So, the first step from knowing to doing is to implement a strategy of doing fewer things better to deal with information overload. And, you know what? You've got to have the courage to spend time repeating the things you already know.

Another thing that can get in the way of moving from knowing to doing is something called negative filtering. Have you ever wondered what negative filtering is? It's totally normal to feel a bit resistant when we learn something new, hear a new idea, or read a new book. It's like we're fighting against our existing prejudices, knowledge, and past habits and methods, which can sometimes unconsciously make us feel a bit less enthusiastic and less open to learning new things. Let's say you're learning about communication. You'll probably be happy to hear that communication is all about listening to and understanding others, and then expressing your own opinions so that you can all reach a better consensus. But you've learned from past experiences that if you don't speak up and be firm with others, they might not take you seriously. So, you just need to be a little more forceful and take the initiative to express your opinions. I'm sure that will help you to be taken seriously. If you've had such a great experience, it's totally normal to question this new way of communicating. You might think that this new method of communication, which involves spending time listening and understanding, and communicating, is a bit costly. You might even think that it's better to just do things the way you've always done them. So, if you have this kind of mentality, even if you know a new perspective or theory, you might find it tricky to actually put it into practice.

How can we work together to find a solution? The author offers a really practical solution: green light thinking. Have you ever wondered what green light thinking is all about? When you hear someone come up with a new idea or project, it's always a good idea to stop for a moment and think: why do I think this idea or proposal is feasible? In other words, it would be great if everyone could accept the proposal! This is a different way of looking at things. It's so easy to get stuck in our ways, isn't it? The more experienced and senior we are in a matter, the more likely we are to reject the views of others simply because we see problems with their ideas. It's so important to remember that every method or idea proposed by others has a reason behind it, and there's a reason to support the way they propose it. It's just that our natural thought processes, past experiences, and biases can sometimes get in the way, making it difficult for us to see things from another perspective. Green light thinking is a great way to help us understand why others think the way they do. This is such an exciting discovery! It's like opening a whole new world of possibilities. Then we'll find that even though this matter seems tricky from my perspective, it actually makes sense if viewed from another perspective. And this perspective is something that I would never have thought of in the past!

So, the author suggests that when we come across a new perspective, instead of always wondering where it's wrong, we should use green light thinking and first recognize that it's totally possible. Let's take communication as an example. Even if you don't see eye to eye, you tell yourself it's a good idea to understand each other before you start chatting. There are two main reasons why. First, if we understand each other, we can talk about the same topic, which avoids those awkward moments when we're talking about different things. That saves a lot of time and energy! Second, if we understand each other before we start chatting, it can also help us to feel good and to create a nice atmosphere. That makes it easier for both of us to reach a consensus. Once you find these reasons, you'll be able to use new knowledge to change your behavior in ways that will be really useful for you! So, the author suggests that when we hear a new point of view, we should try to change our first reaction from doubting to asking ourselves: How can I use it to my advantage? What could I possibly gain from learning this? By thinking this way, we can avoid becoming the opposite of the author's paranoia. We all know that paranoia is when we stick to our own ideas without listening to anyone else. But the opposite of paranoia is when we use positive thinking to come up with lots of different ideas!

But at this point, someone might say, "I know this goes against my nature, but I'm saying it anyway." I know it can be tough to think about the good things, but it's okay to focus on the positive! The author says, "Don't worry! It's not that you're not allowed to question, but that the questioning part comes after the green light, in the yellow light part." Hey there! I just wanted to check in and see what you think the yellow light is for. It's totally okay to have doubts about the issue. We all do! So, it's not that we can't share our thoughts when we disagree. It's just that we should always try to give positive feedback first, before any negative feedback. At that point, if you go back and give your opinion, others will also pay more attention, which is great! The author says that sometimes we've been focusing on all the great things, so when it's our turn to give feedback, we can't think of any objections. This way, we can really get to grips with the issue and it'll be much easier to implement.

So, negative thinking is the second thing that gets in the way of us knowing how to do it.

The third thing that can make it tricky to go from knowing to doing is if we don't follow up. Have you ever wondered what lack of follow-up really means? It's so easy to forget what we know, isn't it? Even if you know a method, like that communication should start with understanding, listening, and then expressing your own views, after a while, it's so easy to slip back into old habits. I'm sure we've all been there! I'd love to know why! The author says that this is because of a lack of follow-up, which is totally understandable!

I think there might be a little bit of a misunderstanding here, which is totally okay! We all think that to take action or change ourselves, the most important thing is to have new knowledge, master new methods, and have new ideas so that we can deal with problems. Oh, that's not quite right! It's not that there's anything wrong with knowing new ideas. What's more important than knowing new ideas is taking the time to master them. You know, companies are willing to spend days or even weeks training everyone, in the hope that after these training courses, everyone can master new methods and apply them at work to create greater value for the company. That's why companies are willing to invest in sending you to training. But what's the reality? It's a sad but true fact that after training, very few of the vast majority of employees actually change. It's great that we're willing to spend a lot of time learning new knowledge and methods! But why are we sometimes unwilling to spend a little time following up on the application of that knowledge? In fact, how can we be sure that this is just the first step of a long journey? The real challenge is in the follow-up after turning knowledge into action.

The author says that if you spend twice as much time on training, you have to spend ten times as much energy and time on follow-up. I know, it's a lot! But which company or person will still be willing to put in the extra effort after training to check whether everyone has understood the knowledge? I just wanted to check in and see if there are any problems with implementation. Do you think they could use some support? Absolutely! We truly believe that after everyone has finished the class, training, and interactive experience, and after they have had positive interactions with the teacher, they will make changes in their lives. I really hope they can change! Sadly, when we go back to our lives, we are faced with the same daily routines, living environments, and processes. It is very easy to slip back into our old ways, isn't it? We know there's a new, better way, but we still can't seem to apply it to our lives. It's true that our mindset and knowledge have changed, but we still need to put in the work to make sure we can move from knowing to doing. It's the most important and challenging thing we can do, but we can do it! The author says that a good follow-up system has at least three parts: guidance, support, and accountability. That means there's plenty of guidance to help you know what to do, lots of support to give you a hand along the way, and feedback to help you along the way. And if you do a great job, you'll get incentives and praise! But if you don't do so well, you'll get feedback to help you improve.

A while back, I read another book called "The Four Principles of High-Performance Teams." At first, I thought it was going to be a bit of a disappointment. The title didn't really grab me, and I wasn't sure what to expect from the book. I have to tell you, after reading it, I found it really very good! Guess what? This is also a book published by Stephen Covey's company! One of the methods I found really helpful is using the Kanban model to give the team feedback. I'd love to know what it means! It's all about showcasing each team's amazing work in the most concise way possible on one page. It's just like playing basketball! If we imagine a basketball game where nothing changes, but there is no scoreboard, but it is secretly recorded at the bottom so that no one knows, we can see that the whole game will immediately lose that kind of tension and fierce atmosphere. When there's a scoreboard that everyone can see, it's amazing how everyone's abilities will be mobilized! It's really just a simple principle and method! I used this method to design a one-page Kanban board for our company, and I'm excited to share it with you! It's really straightforward! We just list our project progress plan on a piece of paper, and then the project team members simply record the actual progress of the work on the first point on the chart every day. It's so easy! Every day, as long as the project team members click on a point, the entire company will know the actual progress of each project. This makes resource coordination and scheduling more responsive.

After I introduced this method to a meeting, everyone was really enthusiastic about it. They thought it was very good, intuitive, and useful. But, as with anything new, there were a few hiccups in the first week. Some folks had different ideas about how things were supposed to move along, some didn't know where to click in the right spot, and some felt like they didn't need to click every day, so they just stopped. It's so simple, really! But it seems like everyone has a different understanding of it. At that moment, I was reminded of something I'd read in the book "Knowing and Doing." It said that if it takes twice as long to share a piece of knowledge with a team, it'll take ten times as long for them to actually put it into practice. And it'll take even longer to follow up and support them. It took us a whole half a month to get everyone on the same page, come up with a new understanding and standard, and then implement this one-page Kanban.

Just think about it for a moment. It's incredible, isn't it? Even something as simple as a one-page note requires half a month to gradually reach a consensus and take unified action. This is both a bit surprising and totally understandable. This is exactly the kind of thing that most of us get wrong between knowing and doing. We all think that knowing something is really important, and we're happy to spend lots of time learning new things and understanding new methods. We all know how it goes. We don't set aside enough time, and we don't even realize that we need to put in more effort to repeatedly practice and implement what we already know in order to turn it into something we can do.

So, to wrap things up, we can see that there are three main issues that get in the way of our knowledge and actions coming together. These are information overload, negative filtering, and a lack of follow-up. The good news is that there are simple solutions to these problems! They are brevity, green-light thinking, and continuous follow-up. Once you've got a handle on these methods, we can circle back to what we said at the beginning: the author's summary of the two words "repeat" is pretty straightforward, right? It's so important to remember that when you're learning something new, you have to give yourself time to understand it, learn it, explore it, and research it thoroughly. And don't forget to practice, follow up, and improve as you go along! You'll probably run into a few hiccups along the way, but that's totally normal. Just keep at it and remember, you've got this! So, if I had to sum up all of these methods in one word, it would be repetition. But it's not just one big repetition. It's a kind of repetition that happens at different levels and stages. Spending time repeating is the key to getting from knowing to doing. We can do it!

I'm so excited to share with you the core ideas of the book, "From Knowing to Doing." I'm so happy to tell you all about the wonderful solutions to the problems we're facing! The first one is essentialism, which is a great way to deal with information overload. The second is green light thinking, which is perfect for dealing with passive filtering. And the third is continuous follow-up, which is ideal for getting through a lack of follow-up. If we think about these three solutions, we can see that they actually correspond to changing how we think, changing our attitudes, and then changing our behavior. So, cognition, attitude, and behavior are the building blocks of the theory of action change. They're also the foundation for generating new behaviors, which is pretty cool! So, if you understand this, you'll see that the author's approach to moving from knowing to doing is also based on such a simple model.

On this basis, we can also see that, in terms of cognitive change, the author's strategy for solving information overload is essentialism. This has been very well explained in the book Essentialism by Cheng Jia, which I highly recommend! If you're looking to gain a deeper understanding of this issue, I highly recommend reading that book! It's a great resource for deeper knowledge and understanding. When it comes to green light thinking, it offers a wonderful way to shift our perspective and think from the viewpoint of others. We used to say that it's important to consider things from other people's perspectives and to be empathetic, but the author takes a different approach. Instead, he gives you a helpful tool, the green light, which gently encourages you to find a reason, and then you're ready to go! I'm sure you'll agree that turning a problem from knowing an idea into a tool with a green light will also greatly change the way it is implemented. This also gives us lots of inspiration on how to package an idea into a tool for better application, which is really exciting! And last but not least, at the action level, the author talks about the methods of "guidance, support, and accountability." I wonder if they're similar to the implied actions and reward systems mentioned in the book The Power of Habit? I'm happy to say there are lots of similarities! As a matter of fact, they're really connected to how our brains develop new pathways for behavior. It's so interesting how our brains work! Did you know that a neural pathway requires repeated occurrences and repeated stimulation in order to make the pathway more open and thus consistently produce a behavior?

Once we understand this, we'll finally understand why, despite having learned so much and knowing so much, we still can't get on with our lives. We should know less, but more importantly, know better; practice more, but more thoroughly; and follow up systematically. In this way, we can achieve the goal of "knowing is not enough; doing is not enough; we must achieve results." And we can do it!