The Study Snkhole: Why You're Learning Everything and Nothing
Why endless preparation is just procrastination with a PhD
Let me say something real: I've been caught in this.
Sitting there with 37 saved YouTube videos on prompt engineering. A Notion page titled "AI Tools to Try" with 47 bookmarks. Three different ChatGPT courses, 2% completed each. And then I look up and I ain't built nothing. No blog. No tool. No post. Just a brain full of content and a to-do list still sitting on zero.
That's what I'm calling the Study Sinkhole.
It feels like progress. But it's just delay in disguise.
This Ain't Even the Lazy Crowd
This ain't about people doing nothing.
This is about the ones who look busy. Who say, "I'm learning," but they're just circling the launchpad, scared to take off. You know what I mean.
You tell yourself you're preparing. Getting the foundation right. Making sure you really understand.
But really?
You're putting in work to avoid the real work.
And I say that with love because I've done it.
I Know Because I've Lived It
Look, I didn't flip a switch and suddenly stop watching tutorials. I still fall into it sometimes. But here's the moment that woke me up:
I was organizing my saved prompts folder. 200 prompts. All these "amazing" templates I'd bookmarked from Twitter threads and YouTube videos.
Then I realized something that made me sick: I'd never written a single original prompt.
Not one.
I had 200 solutions to other people's problems, but zero solutions to my own.
So I stopped. Deleted the whole folder. Started fresh with this rule: If I'm not using it this week, I'm not saving it.
Instead of collecting prompts, I started creating them. For real problems I actually had. Structured ones that worked for my workflow, not some guru's.
And you know what happened? Within three months, I was writing my own prompt tutorials. Publishing ebooks. Teaching the thing I used to just consume.
But here's where it got real: I started writing in public. And suddenly, all those newsletters teaching me "how to write in public" felt ridiculous. I unsubscribed from dozens of them. Why watch someone else do the thing I was already doing?
That's how Digital Alchemy was born. Built on one principle: learn in public. Instead of watching someone else do it, just do it.
That's the difference between learning and doing.
Consumption Cosplay Is Real
We're not just consuming we're cosplaying creators.
You scroll through tools. You bookmark walkthroughs. You stack up tutorials like trophies.
And it feels good. Feels smart. Feels productive.
But at some point, I had to stop and ask myself:
If I know this much, why haven't I done a damn thing with it?
I had to admit I wasn't preparing. I was hiding.
You're an expert on AI tools you've never used. You know more about productivity than people who actually produce things.
Let's Be Honest About the Trap
This whole "I'm learning" energy? It's deeper than paralysis of analysis. This is analysis as identity. You start thinking watching smart people makes you smarter. But nothing's changing. Nothing's getting shipped.
You're not getting feedback. You're not getting results. You're just getting exhausted.
Here's What Pulled Me Out
I stopped calling it learning if it didn't lead to action.
I started creating before I felt ready. Even if it was clunky.
I made this rule: For every tutorial I watch, I gotta use something from it.
Immediately !
That one rule alone pulled me out of the sinkhole.
So if you're still stuck in that loop clicking, saving, watching just try this:
Take one thing you already know and do something with it today. Doesn't have to be pretty. Doesn't have to be perfect. Just real.
Kill the tutorial tab. Open the tool. Build something messy. Say the thing out loud. Put your name on it. Ship it even if it's light.
Because here's what I learned the hard way: You don't get good at building by watching other people build.
You get good by building bad things. Then slightly less bad things. Then things that actually work.
The tutorial ends when you close the laptop and make something real.
So what's it gonna be today? Another bookmark, or your first rough draft?
Drop a comment and tell me: What's sitting in your "saved for later" folder that you already know enough to try? Let's call each other out on our favorite forms of productive procrastination.