This was written by Rudy Rucker. He was talking about writing a novel, but I think it applies nicely to learning and life.

"How precise, after all, is an outline? If, as William Burroughs used to say, a novel is but a map of a territory, an outline is but a map of a map. In the end, only the novel itself is the perfect outline of the novel. Only the territory itself can be the perfect map."

My kids are a perfect outline of themselves. Gnarly.