Learning through Study vs Learning by Doing

You may have noticed I haven't posted any pictures here yet.  "Yet" may be optimistic.  I seem to be stuck in the learning stage as I frequently am when I take on new projects and hobbies. 

I like learning new things and I try to learn as much as I can about the subject but somewhere along the line I usually get caught up in the learning and never get around to the doing.

1. I become intimidated by seeing what the experts can do and fear I can never become half as good so I don't even try. 
2. Or I try a little but then realize I can never be that good so I don't even try to become as good as I could be.
3. I catch 'shiny quarter' syndrome which is where something new catches my attention and I forget what I was doing.
4. I decide to wait till tomorrow to actually do anything.
5. Somebody tells me I can't and for some reason known only to Sigmund Freud or Dr. Ruth, I believe them. 

That's why I was intrigued by these two articles by Alex Garcia that I found on his Chicago Tribune blog Assignment Chicago: Tuesday Photo Tips Are You A Perpetual Student  and Conditions Of Learning Photography.  I thought maybe he was speaking to me.

I think the points he made in both articles was that you can't really learn how to do anything without doing it and the more you do it the more you can learn if you try.