Can you become good at something just by practising? Is theory just a waste of time? Let’s find out!
Firstly, what is practice? To get a fairer view of our topic, we need to understand what practice and theory mean. According to the Oxford Languages dictionary, practice is the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories relating to it. In simpler terms, we can understand that we are practically doing, implementing something when we ask ourselves the question “What (task do I have to do)?”. We are interested in the task itself. Practice is doing something.
Secondly, what is theory? There are two definitions. The main one is that it’s a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained. The complementary, synonymic one is that it’s a set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based. So basically, theory is when you ask yourself “How (do I do this or that task)?” It’s not about doing a task directly, it’s about how to do it. Theory is about finding a way to do something.
So, can you become good at something just by practising? Well, practice makes perfect, as they say. You can decide to go coding, training or building something with no theoretical knowledge at all, but you wouldn’t know what to do. You would find out that you are paralysed at the very start. You can’t do anything without understanding it at all. And all understanding, even experience you get from practically doing something, is still theory. On the other hand, if you know your theory, how the system works and how to operate it, even without much practice or habits, you’ll know what to do at every step. You’ll never be lost. There’s no logical reason to avoid theoretical knowledge. Practice won’t magically give you a deep understanding of modern, intricate systems, but theory will. Unfortunately, you can’t just practise to become good at something. You need theory too.
Is practice better than theory? No, and the same goes for theory being better than practice.
Fundamentally, it’s wrong to put education, theory (finding out how you do something) and work, practice (actually doing something) in a hierarchy.
They’re both important, and one can’t be more important than the other.
