In this opening clip from Erika Andersen’s book Be Bad First: Get Good at Things Fast to Stay Ready for the Future, the narrator explains that human knowledge is accelerating toward a doubling each year, driven by the internet’s instant dissemination of scientific, medical, and business breakthroughs. This rapid knowledge expansion means new ventures can rise and be copied almost overnight, eliminating the old luxury of a few years to establish a market. Consequently, the most valuable skill today is the ability to learn quickly and continuously. Andersen argues that thriving in this environment requires repeatedly embracing novice status—being willing to be “bad” at something in order to become good—rather than clinging to the adult‑ideal of expertise and error‑free performance. The clip frames the central question of the audiobook: how can individuals overcome their hesitation toward new learning to become “masters of mastery” in the 21st century? It ends with a call to purchase the book and take a quiz that measures one’s ability to be “bad first.”
A clip from Erika Andersen's latest book, Be Bad First: Get Good at Things Fast to Stay Ready for the Future.
If it's true that human knowledge will be doubling every year by the end of this decade, we have the internet to thank. For example, every scientific or medical breakthrough that happens today is immediately available online all over the world in complete detail so that researchers can access that new knowledge instantly and begin to build upon it. The same is true of business innovation. In the old days, say 1980, when people started a truly new kind of business, they could assume that they would have a couple of years to get their feet under them before they'd have much competition. No more. New ventures can succeed almost overnight, given the fact that social media can be harnessed to spread the word about their services or products with minimal investment. But the same viralness of communication that allows for that success also makes that success completely and thoroughly visible to potential competitors who can start replicating those approaches and products the next day. Given all this, it seems clear that those who succeed in today's world will be those who can acquire and apply new knowledge and new skills quickly. Quickly and continuously. That's really the premise of this audiobook— that at this point in history, where knowledge is increasing exponentially, where work is changing daily, where advancements in every area of discipline nearly outpace our ability to communicate them, the ability to learn well and quickly is the most important skill we can have. And that requires, among a number of things that we'll talk about throughout this audiobook, being willing to be a novice over and over again, being willing to be bad at things on the way to getting good at them. There's no way around it, I'm afraid. In order to thrive in this new world, you have to let go on a daily basis of the idea that to be an adult means to be an expert. You have to stop thinking that your primary goal at work and in life is to tick all the boxes correctly and not make any mistakes. That belief will be reassuring in the moment, but over time, it will land you in the dustbin of history. So here in this moment, when knowledge and the possibilities that arise from that knowledge are expanding exponentially, even as we speak, a key question for each of us is: How can we overcome our hesitation and our resistance to new learning in order to become those masters of mastery who will best succeed in the 21st century? The good news is, we've all got something inside of us that will help. We may hate to be bad at things, but we love getting good at things.
Thank you for listening. You can find Be Bad First on Amazon.com and anywhere books are sold. And if you'd like to find out how good you are at being bad first, go to getgoodatthingsfast.com and take the quiz.
