The "How"

 

As we move into the How always don't forget the Why

After having the Why sorted out you now know your goals, purpose and priorities in life.

Be aware that this should be an ongoing process. You need to constantly be keeping the Why at the back of your mind so you don't lose sight of it. That's why I will frequently remind, reiterate and drive home this point to you.

Emphasis on high-level principles and getting your "intangibles" right

Now we are talking about How you are going to get there. The emphasis here is on high level strategy, concepts and general principle-based education.

To use a cooking analogy, the How is the study and understanding of general cooking techniques and principles. It's gaining an understanding of different ingredients and their properties and how they interact with one another and so on.

Whereas the What is learning a specific recipe or learning how to make a specific dish.

Of course you need both to become a successful chef however the order does matter. It's better to learn the general high-level core transferable principles first then dive into specific cases. If you start by diving into the specifics you are learning on an ad hoc basis and to quote Emerson you are "sure to have trouble."

What you need to know / what you need to have

The way I see this is there are higher level conceptual things you need to know. Then there's certain ingredients you need to have. Finally there are the specific tools, tactics, opportunities and vehicles that will help you get there (i.e. the What). Of course, the "there" is the goal/destination you set yourself when we started with Why.

Here is what Elon Musk said about this:

One bit of advice: it is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree — make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.

On that note, here are the types of content you will find grouped under this category:

1) Articles around educating yourself about the right things you need to know to become an entrepreneur in order to engineer your escape from the 9-5. These could span topics like marketing, accounting, finance, economics and observing/reverse engineering customer behavior. All this is important so you understand the core principles first so that when we move to the What you already have a "trunk for the leaves to hang on." (What you need to know)

2) Content focusing on getting what I call your "internals/intangibles" right. I mean things like attitude, discipline, perseverance and strategic patience. These are the more subtle "softer" skills/traits that you will need on your journey towards freedom from work. (What "internal" ingredients you need to have)

TL;DR

"The How" is the foundation for your success. Without a solid foundation you can't build a very tall structure before having it collapse on its own weight.