Knowledge can be useless. Much of what we learned isn't used.

The most famous example of useless knowledge must be schools.

But before discussing why school isn't practical, let's first talk about when knowledge is practical. I use this simple formula to decide if something has high application:

The practicality of some knowledge = Its usefulness (quality) X Total chances I can apply it (quantity)

Simply put, if a piece of knowledge is useful, or it isn't very useful but can be used a lot, or it is both useful and can be used a lot, then it's worth learning.

Let's first talk about the usefulness of knowledge.

Because some knowledge is more valuable than others, we compare and pick those that benefit us the most.

For example, suppose you have two ways to solve an issue. If the second way is better, then if you already have a lot of knowledge about it (when/how to apply the second way, how to handle its side effects, etc.), it is better than you already know about the first way. In another situation, if the first way is more efficient, then having the knowledge about it will be better. How useful a piece of knowledge is depends on the situation you apply it to.

It would be best if you understand both solutions well, but since we have limited time and resources, the best we can do is pick what we think will be the most useful and learn in advance.

Knowledge's usefulness is a good factor that helps us pick what to learn. An equally useful factor is how much we can apply a piece of knowledge.

Let's have an example to illustrate that.

One skill that is useful but isn't used a lot is interview skills. Suppose "good interviewing skills" have 1000 units of usefulness, but you only use it 10 times in your whole life; then its practicality can be calculated as:

Good interview skills practicality = 1,000 x 10 = 10,000

In contrast, "good dishwashing skills" (by having better gloves, better cleaners, knowing which one should be cleaned first, etc.) may only have 1 unit of usefulness, but because you need to wash dishes so many times in your whole life (supposedly 10,000 times), you have 10,000 chances to use these dishwashing tricks.

Good dishwashing skills practicality = 1 x 10,000 = 10,000

Although these two skills have many differences, they give you the same value.

Next, let's talk about how we can increase the usefulness of knowledge or how we can find more chances to apply knowledg...

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