The Osmosis Fallacy

If you’re immersed, will you learn by default?

It's easy to think we can absorb through osmosis, that we'll hum along and improve simply because we're present.

But immersion and proximity are not sufficient.

Learning is a result of deliberate thinking. Not osmosis.

For example:

• You can live in France for years—and not speak French fluently (or at all).

• You can hang out with blacksmiths—and not learn how to work with metal.

• You can talk every day with a colleague in sales—and not be able to command a room like they can.

• You can hover in your parent's kitchen, and not know how to recreate your favorite meals.

• You can work with creatives, and not become more creative.

You'll of course pick up some nuggets along the way. You're more familiar with the vibe than a layperson who isn't immersed.

But when we're actively thinking, we're on the hook—if only in our own minds—and that changes everything.

It's one thing to watch an artist paint and assume you know how the process works. It's another thing to be the one holding a Winsor & Newton hog bristle brush, deciding which color to dip into first.

If you agree that learning doesn't happen through osmosis, how can you dial up the active thinking?

The next time you're in a situation that makes you perk up:

• Think about how to apply the concept to your own work

• Think about how you would reverse engineer it

• Think about how you would deconstruct it

• Think about why it works and when it wouldn't work

You stopped and noticed for a reason. Follow through on your thinking. Let your mind linger on it a little longer.

If learning by osmosis sounds too good to be true, it's because it is.

On the bright side, if you think you're learning a lot just by being exposed, imagine how much further you could go if you actively tried.