Seth had a post today a while ago on “what you know vs. what you do” that spoke to me.

I have been exposed to Bitcoin since 2011 and had plenty of opportunities to invest a small amount. But, I didn’t.

I would been thinking about what I learnt from the situation. Then, of course, Seth did what he usually does and summed it all up with characteristic insight and incisiveness.

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In 1995, my book packaging company published one of its last titles, an anachronism called, Presenting Digital Cash. It was the first book on digital cash ever aimed at a mass audience. And it was ahead of its time, selling [fortunately] very few copies. The examples in the book were current, but it was soon outdated. [The foreword was written by Neal Stephenson—someone who is ahead of his time for a living].

Thirteen long years later, Bitcoin was introduced to the world. I didn’t invent it, even though I’d written about digital cash more than a decade before. I’d created an entire book about digital cash, and thought about it deeply for months.

Except I didn’t buy 1,000 dollars worth of Bitcoin in 2008. If I had, I’d have more than $40,000,000 today.

It’s not that I didn’t know.

It’s that I didn’t act.

Two different things.

I knew, but I didn’t know for sure. Not enough to act.

All the good stuff happens when we act even if we don’t know for sure.

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A long time reader of Sawubona Blog sent me a note a few weeks ago talking about how he signed up for Seth’s blog after I had recommended it [for the nth time in these years].

He then apologetically explained that he was beginning to like his blog better. He knew about the Seth’s blog but did not act on it.

That note made me smile. I wrote back explaining to him that Seth’s daily notes set the bar that I, every once in a rare while, try to match. 🙂

What is it that you know but not acting on it? Make sure that in two years time, you don’t look back with regret.

Don’t spectate in a game you are supposed to be playing in.