Doing Creates the Desire to Learn
What if learning isn’t the starting point—but the side effect? A founder’s insight on why doing unlocks deeper, faster, more lasting learning.
Doing Creates the Desire to Learn
Why building leads to learning—faster, deeper, and more naturally
Lately, I’ve found myself deep in a familiar rhythm: building something difficult, and learning more because of it.
Not out of pressure. Not out of fear. But because the act of building unlocks curiosity.
The more I engage with real technical problems — configuring systems, debugging scripts, designing architectures — the more I want to learn. Suddenly I’m reading more, testing tools I used to ignore, revisiting old documentation with fresh eyes.
Learning isn’t a prerequisite. It’s a side effect of doing.
That’s something I didn’t fully understand early on. I used to think I needed to know more before I started. Now I start—and that creates the need (and the energy) to go deeper.
Systems are learned by running them.
Principles are internalized by applying them.
Even creativity shows up more when you're doing than when you're waiting.
If you’re stuck in “I should learn more before I…” mode, try flipping it:
✅ Start.
✅ Do something real.
✅ Let the work demand the learning.
That’s been the loop behind Packet Passport since day one — even if day one wasn’t long ago.
But I’ve been working this way for over 20 years. And I can tell you this:
The fastest, most lasting learning doesn’t happen before the work.
It happens because of it.