Step By Step - Pros And Cons

You see it posted here a lot.

"Does anybody know of a step by step guide for..."

And fill in the blank. Could be just about anything when it comes to Internet
marketing since there are so many variables involved from advertising to sales
letters to creating an autoresponder series. And the list goes on and on.

Now, there is something to be said for step by step instructions. I personally
love them because they give me a definite path to follow. And in the case of
putting together a piece of furniture, they're almost critical to have. And if
you're a technical idiot like I am, they're a must have for anything computer
related.

But step by step instructions are not without their problems. The best way
to illustrate them is with a true story.

When I was in school learning networking, I was given specific step by
step instructions for installing a Novell network. They were great. All I
did was complete each step and I was done. I installed a Novell server and
a bunch of workstations. Wonderful.

Here was the problem.

Because I had these instructions, I never really had to "learn" and
"understand" what I was doing. As a result, when I got into a work
environment, I was worthless without them. I couldn't think on my feet.
If anything went wrong, or if I inadvertently skipped a step, I didn't know
enough about what I was doing to have any clue where I screwed up.

This same problem could be traced back to my days in school with certain
math classes, especially trig. I could follow the step by steps of a particular
example, but to actually apply the principle of what I was doing was so
hard because I really didn't "learn" the theory. I just did it by rote. And
this is the problem with many kids in today's schools.

So while step by step instructions may get you immediately through a
problem, if it's a process that you're going to have to do more than once,
depending on those step by step instructions is going to slow you down
and ultimately keep you from really learning and understanding what you're
doing.

Sure, if it's a one shot deal such as setting up an Adwords account or a
Squidoo lens, it's not that big a deal. But if you're planning on setting up
several accounts or lenses, it would be a whole lot more efficient if you
knew the routine by memory and then actually understood it. That allows
you to make certain modifications that you wouldn't be able to make if you
had to religiously rely on those instructions.

I could give a million examples of what I mean but I am sure you get the
point.

Step by step instructions do have their place. But if you're going to better
yourself in that area, you're going to someday have to go beyond them.