Birds Don’t Need A ‘Flying for Dummies’ Book Either

The Decoded | April 2025 | By Lisanne
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Ever seen a bird, freshly born and out of its nest, chirping alongside its hungry siblings, fighting over a worm—while its parents hand him a copy of Flying for Dummies?

No?

Didn’t think so either.

Birds don’t read handbooks before they spread their wings.

They don’t travel to every corner of the planet to find a guru for advice.

Instead, their mothers throw them out of their nest, almost like heartless creatures, and they learn to fly as they go. They crapple and fail, their wings clumsy at their sides, not quite knowing how to use them yet.

Humans take a different approach.

We collect advice like souvenirs. We watch YouTube tutorials to figure out how to boil the perfect pasta. We buy pricey online courses from people who claim to make a fortune and help you do the same.

When we tiptoe into a new industry, we try to find mentors, experts or experts by experience to guide us the way on the still foggy path we are trying to walk.

Information is fine. Advice can help. But only if we know how to filter it.

Much like a gold prospector walking along the beach with a device that tells him where to find the gold, the filter helps me to filter the useful from the ineffective, helping me to adapt it to my situation.

Getting good at something requires something most goeroes won’t tell you. To stop buying courses, to stop listening to advice that has helped other people on their paths but doesn’t fit your situation, and go out into the world to do it.

To test your waters, spread your wings, and train your muscles.

Sometimes gaining information is a way to postponing the thing you actually should be doing. Your real job is to make the best out of your own situation. There is a time to gain information and a time to check in with yourself again.

Based on what you know now, and how it feels, what is the right decision to make?

I’ve found, you only become a writer if you start and continue writing. You only become a filmmaker if you start making films. Success is in the doing, and confidence comes from taking responsibility for your decision and from knowing that whether it works out or not, you’ll be able to handle almost any situation.

Thank you for reading. The journal prompt of today:

When was the last time you used the filter in your ear?

Let me know in the comments.