The key to making breakthroughs in knowledge - either personal or societally - is to choose your battles to a degree. There is simply too much to master, it’s

The key to making breakthroughs in knowledge - either personal or societally - is to choose your battles to a degree. There is simply too much to master, it’s a very good skill to be able to say “this is fascinating but too far afield of what I need to do”. Alternately, choosing when to say “after dipping my toe in the water this clicks for me, I’m going to take a risk and go further” is an even harder skill to master. This is why many people have trouble finishing a PhD dissertation. Play is a necessary step, but play without focus is a ticket to mediocrity. Databases in particular are something one will run across in nearly any task and 99:100 times one likely shouldn’t dwell too much on what is inside the magic box.