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I’ve written about the process of practice before, but I don’t think the importance of planning and practice can be stressed enough.
When you practice a couple of things happen (as if by magic). You can quickly identify where you’re weaknesses are, you can uncovered general logistics problems (timing, flow, effort needed), and most importantly you can screw up in private!
There is no excuse for not practicing. I frequently hear (and sometimes even tell myself) there just isn’t enough time for adequate practice. That’s a pretty poor excuse - there is often plenty of time for practice if you manage your time well.
But now you’re going to say, “I don’t always get to set my own schedule! Sometimes there isn’t time in the schedule I’m given to practice!”
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May 23rd, 2006
Jacob
Recently my wife complained of severe abdominal pain and nausea, so bad she asked to be taken to the hospital. When she was admitted, the doctors tried to get her feeling comfortable while they puzzled over what might be causing her problems.
The doctors listened with their stethoscopes, drew blood tests, had x-rays taken, and scheduled CT scans. Almost every test came back completely normal with one exception - a slightly enlarged appendix.
“Ah Ha!” cried the doctors, “Call in the surgeons, her appendix needs to come out!”
And in came the surgeons. They poked and prodded and asked for lengthy medical histories. Finally they concluded they thought the problem might be the appendix, but they weren’t sure; they decided to operate and remove it anyway.
(Read the rest of this article…)
May 17th, 2006
Jacob
I’ve been experimenting with power naps for 100 days now and as such I’ve found I’ve settled into a bit of a pattern. I don’t necessarily need one every day, and I’ve found a good barometer is that the more I feel like I don’t have the time to take a power nap, the more I really need one.
The only real problems I’ve encountered have been external; the idea of napping isn’t widely accepted once you’re older than 5. People look at you like you’re slacking off and not being productive, and woe to anyone who isn’t always 100% “on” and “productive.”
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May 16th, 2006
Jacob
How do you know when you really understand a subject? I always find that when I can explain a subject to a relative newcomer, and make them understand the material, I have a mastery of the subject.
Train to learn is a motto of mine, because if you have holes in your knowledge it will come to light when you have to stand in front of a group and train them. The “why’s” and “how’s” and “what-for’s” will come flying at you fast and furiously from the people you’re training.
We’ve grown the IT department at the company I work for and with a new addition to the team I thought it would be a good idea to do some system training on the ERP software package our company runs.
Normally it takes about a week to go through the “official” training on how to install the system from the software vendor, so there is a lot of material to cover. Sitting in front of the department, notes in hand, was a major test of what I understood and more importantly how well I could communicate it back.
The first day I spend training made me realize where my weaknesses in understanding the system were and where I needed to brush up myself. It also meant a week of going home and doing my own homework to get ready for each new training session.
Train to learn - in this case where you’re weaknesses are.
I’ve found that throughout my life this works. If I really need to understand some new material, when I sit down and explain it to someone else it really helps cement it in my own head.
Have you ever been working through a problem - maybe you couldn’t get something to work the way you expected - you called someone over to ask for their help and as soon as you started explaining what you were hung up on you had an “Oh Duh!” moment where you instantly realized what the problem was?
When these “Oh Duh!” moments happen many people feel silly for not catching on sooner, but you really shouldn’t feel this way. In the process of organizing your thoughts to explain the issue to someone else your brain managed to drop everything into place. That one funky variable that was eluding you became instantly obvious.
There is a technique that programmers use - and I’ve heard a ton of different names for it - where they describe a complex and confusing programming problem - in excruciating detail - to an inanimate object. It helps them achieve these “Oh Duh!” moments and solve their problems.
Why an inanimate object? Would you really want to have a programmer explain - in exacting detail - the problems they’re having connecting a database to a piece of middleware to talk to the shipping software via TCP/IP? If they talk to a stuffed animal, at least they’ll have a captive audience!
But it really does work - when you’re stuck try explaining your problem. Train to learn, and experience an “Oh Duh!” moment. It works even better if you can train a person, because then you’ll get immediate feedback on whether or not they understand what you’re training them.
Give it a try the next time you’re stuck, or the next time you want to see if you really understand some new material. When you train someone else you’ll immediately find your weak areas and you may even have a breakthrough and solve a problem that’s been bothering you!
March 8th, 2006
Jacob
Which of these two words is more descriptive of your life: proactive or reactive? It seems that for me the best description of my life lately has been “reactive.” I’m reacting to the circumstances around me more often than I’m keeping my eyes scanning the horizon and proactively handling situations as they arise.
My favorite definition of “proactive” comes from a paper I read years ago. I no longer know the original author, but the quote is wholly appropriate.
“In a nutshell, being proactive is the same thing as being reactive. The only difference is that you do the reacting ahead of time.”
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March 2nd, 2006
Jacob
I slept very badly last night. I don’t understand why, I even went to bed earlier than usual, but when the alarm clock rang I was dead to the world. And as a result I drug through most of the day.
I wasn’t planning on stopping to fit a power nap into my schedule because my time today was rather pressed with some issues I needed to resolve on projects that are almost finished. So I decided early today I would put off my power nap today in favor of trying to wrap up some lose ends.
This afternoon I hit a wall like I haven’t hit in a long time. I was pooped and could barely keep my eyes open. Not only did I have the afternoon in front of me, I also had a 3.5 hour long night class with which to contend when the “working” day was done!
After struggling this afternoon with some problems I couldn’t find the solution to, a pending night class and running into the wall and being unable to keep my eyes open, I opted to take my power nap after all.
During my nap, I found that I almost immediately started dreaming. I must have been seriously tired to actually fall all the way asleep - that hasn’t happened before. In the dream I remember sitting down and writing on a piece of paper. I was watching from behind myself - so I didn’t see what I was writing. It was an odd perspective - to watch myself write as I tried to look over my own shoulder.
After some time passed - I don’t have any idea how long but only likely a few minutes - I got up and walked away. Once “I” was gone, I zoomed in to try to get a look at the paper. The words and drawing on the page swam and changed as I tried to look at what it said, but I noticed what appeared to be a few key words that remained steady.
Almost with a jolt I awoke. I looked at my PC and the timer said I officially had 2 minutes and 3 seconds left on my nap. What I remembered though were the key words from my dream. They gave me an idea about one of the problems I had been trying to solve before my nap - so I started fresh trying to solve my problem and within 10 minutes I had taken a new approach that I was so very close to before my nap and I had solved the issue.
I think if I hadn’t taken the time to squeeze my nap in I would still be fighting with that problem and I would be having a hard time keeping my eyes open to boot. It also provided the added benefit of allowing my brain the time it needed to digest the problems I’d been facing and provide me with a solution. Hooray for power napping!
March 1st, 2006
Jacob
Zero-sum is an interesting concept. It’s the idea that you can only have gains or losses that are balanced by gains or losses by others. Poker is a zero-sum game; if you win $10, someone else has to lose $10. If three people in a five person game win $10 each, the other two people had to lose $30 between them.
Of course, this is game theory and not everything in life is a game. But using the concept of “zero-sum based thinking” can help you gain clarity and make decisions - or at least make it a little easier to decide on a decision. It’s still difficult to actually make some decisions.
It’s easy to use zero-sum based thinking too. All zero-sum based questions should begin, “Knowing what I know now, and all things being equal, would I make the same decision?”
It’s binary - yes or no - all you have to do is answer “yes” or “no” to the question. That’s the easy part. The difficult part comes when you have to actually make a decision based on the “yes” or the “no.”
(Read the rest of this article…)
February 28th, 2006
Jacob
Everyday as I drive to and from work I pass a small house that’s been converted into an office. There is a sign in the front yard, right by the road, with the company name and below that a place for those gas-station-style letters.
There is always a positive quote or saying on the sign. Every three or four days there is a new saying.
The company isn’t a sales-training firm, marketing firm, dot-com venture or any of the other types of businesses you might think would do something unique like this. The company is Metzler Plumbing and Heating.
For the last three years I’ve driven past this sign - twice a day - and been positively influenced by it. The owners don’t know me, I don’t have any sort of business relationship with the company - yet they’ve found a way to reach me - and in a positive way to boot!
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February 26th, 2006
Jacob
How safe should you live life? Well, you obviously don’t want to live so close to the edge that you’re always in danger of killing yourself, but you shouldn’t live always looking for the 100% “safe” option in life.
Because here’s a secret that we all forget from time to time; there is no 100% “safe” option in life.
Did you get in your car and drive to work this morning? 49,000 people in the United States died in auto accidents in 2004. 1.1 million people world wide died in auto accidents, and 38 million were injured.
Even if you’re the most risk-averse person out there, it’s very likely you get into your car every day and drive somewhere - to work or to school. Driving can be a risky proposition, but we all still do it.
We do it because we calculate that we’re pretty likely to be safe, even while involved in a potentially risk activity. We weight the odds and roll the dice.
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February 24th, 2006
Jacob
I have been, at times in my life, a spectacular failure. I’ve had a business fail. I’ve had friendships fail. I’ve had ideas fail. I have had personal financial crises stemming from failure. I’ve lost friends over performance failures.
I have experienced a lot of failure in my life, and I’m willing to bet that since you don’t settle for a mediocre life you’ve had your share of failures too.
The important thing about failure is not the failure itself - we will all fail at something, sometime in our life. If you’re not failing, you’re not setting the bar very high. The important thing we learn from failure is the lesson of why we failed, and how to bounce back from failure.
There’s a saying I like; fail faster. Basically, when you undertake a new challenge, you need to get to and through your failures as quickly as possible because you’ll get them past you, and you’ll learn what didn’t work. Learning what doesn’t work can be just as important as learning what does work and you’ll only learn this lesson when you fail.
“I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high be bounces when he hits bottom”
–General George S. Patton
What’s important is to bounce back after you fail. It’s not just important, it’s vitally critical to future success.
(Read the rest of this article…)
February 22nd, 2006
Jacob
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