You can't learn about experience from a book (or post)

There are many things you can learn out of a book, math, history, programming languages, biology, how to write, accounting... This is the first post in a tag I am calling "not in a book" that I intend to keep adding to. No matter how book smart you are, there are lessons learned through time and experience. The first one I am going to cover is "experience" itself. (Disclaimer: By reading this you can't get any experience out of it)

Which came first the chicken or the egg? - My first run in with experience, was when I was searching for my first job. Like most people I was frustrated with the chicken or the egg scenario. "This job requires experience", says Mr. IHaveTheKeys. You're thinking "What the heck? So give me the job so I can have some..." (I was very bitter for a long time about this.)

Experience does not mean capability - After I made it over the hump and actually got a job, I was able to perform exceptionally in a short period (or so I thought) and in my mind that meant I should advance. I confused capability with experience, sure I could do things, but that did not aid me in managing people, or critical decision making. (I'm sure if I could go back and talk to myself about it, I wouldn't listen)

Experience means... - Experience means you have been there and seen things. It means you have cut your teeth on it, been burned or seen success. Hopefully you learn a lesson so that you are going to adjust your thinking based on it.

Experience is not a guarantee for success (Don't let it blind you) - Just the same, having experience does not mean you are automatically better off. Sometimes it takes being burned multiple times before you learn the lesson. Experience can also be blinding to where you don't see all the variables in the situation and are taking assumptions based on what you've seen before. So it should still be taken with a grain of salt.

What I have said in this post will not give you an appreciation for experience. It is one of those things you appreciate and understand once you have it. The best I could do here is point it out, in the hopes you could be aware. I know I have many more lessons to learn but have definitely made steps forward in appreciating and valuing experience. You can listened to people talk about how important it is, but until you apply it and have it... you're just echoing the words everyone says.