Month: September 2017

So, I have spent the better part of today fighting with computers…and they are winning.  What should have been well defined and laid out it turns out is much more difficult and poorly documented.  This means we have entered hours 21 and beyond.  As I wrote yesterday, to become somewhat proficient in a new skill or talent takes about 20ish hours according to one well-done Ted talk and lots of backing research.  As with any major endeavor, I looked at that as a promise that after 20 hours, I’d be pretty proficient, rather than looking at it in the light of reality, which is, that within 20 hours, I’d be as proficient as the other guys struggling with the nuances of an updated operating environment.  Accordingly, I have had both an “I am invincible” and “I have no idea what these machines are doing” day.

With that, I have gone back to basics.  There are a few rules of working with computers that I have hesitated to enumerate because, frankly, knowledge is power, and there is a certain bit of wizardry in the electronic arts.  As an aside, I heard a comedian recently talking about finding gray hairs in his beard.  He was worried because that meant he was either getting older, a fact that he refused to accept, or, alternatively, he was becoming a….wizard.  Anyway, today, my wizardry is abandoning me and I am resorting to brute force (e.g., get a bigger hammer).  Granted, I am urging a device to do something that it was not necessarily designed to do, but as a sentient being on a higher plane than mere electrical charges, it should bend itself to my will…

Anyway, suffice it to say, technology and I are at odds with each other today, and I believe that is probably something that all of you out there can relate to.  Whether it is email refusing to sync, a TV that doesn’t want to record the right shows, or merely something as simple as a Raspberry Pi that refuses to be a dual-homed wireless VPN server, we all have run into technology challenges and we need an approach to defeating them.  (Okay, maybe the Raspberry Pi thing is just me….)  Here is my patent pending approach to how to solve tech problems, be an electronics whisperer, and force electrons to do your bidding….

Step one – take a deep breath.  I am not kidding.  The first problem with troubleshooting electronics is that we tend to rush an answer.  We want it solved and we want it now.  The best thing you can do is to get up, step away from the keyboard and get your head in a different place.  I am not saying forget about the issue, just force yourself to do something different for about 5 minutes.

Step two – Use Google liberally.  If you are running into a problem, the odds are someone else too.  They may not have the answer, but they might have other approaches you haven’t tried.  It can’t hurt to search for advice.

Step three – Exercise “Tactical Patience”.  Tactical patience is the ability to let the computer do dumb things until you bend it to your will.  It is hard to do, but think of the computer as a 2-year-old who can’t help but run down a path until it ends in disaster…then, you step in, reset, and let it run again…and again…and again.  Tactical patience is all about not throwing the computer across the room and trying one more time.

Step four – The IT Crowd – “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”  Yes it is a punchline, but it also works.  Sometimes the answer is to turn it off, remove the battery (if possible) and make the system start all over again.  We all need a fresh start sometimes, and that extends to machines as well.  Sometimes, they need the time to forget their past and start anew.

Step five – Technology is not so much “next generation” as toddler.  Computers and technology are really, really good at doing specific things and repetitive things, but they are not so good at taking incomplete direction.  Sometimes, they just don’t understand properly and so we have to, like parents, patiently and with great effort, teach them what we need them to do.  As with kids, this doesn’t make them bad or broken, merely inexperienced and lacking in additional knowledge.  This is hard to accept sometimes, especially with technology, because it does so much without having been taught, but, that doesn’t mean it can do everything.  My grandson can do amazing things, but I wouldn’t ask him or expect him to change the oil in my car.  Likewise, I can’t expect or ask my…ahem, Raspberry Pi, to function in a way it wasn’t intended to.

This is where 21 hours and beyond comes in.  After the first 20 hours, you generally have to start finding your way in learning.  There is no more predefined path and there aren’t many lessons out there to copy.  You have to cull through lots of mistakes and bad advice and learn to trust your instincts as you grow in your knowledge.  That is a good thing though.  It means that you are making the transition from path follower to trail blazer.  It is only then that you can begin to become a master of what you choose to learn.

I hope you all have a good rest of the week…I am off to tilt at the Raspberry Pi windmill one more time…

I was watching a Ted talk this week as I was looking for additional background material for a talk I am giving soon, and I discovered a talk on the most important 20 hours of learning.  The speaker was delving into the misconceptions we have about learning and some of the misinformation out there, most notably, that it takes 10,000 hours to learn a new skill.  He dove into the research behind the 10,000 hour number and discovered that the 10,000 hour number was really rooted in how many hours of practice it took an athlete to attain their peak performance in their given field.  Some researchers took that study further and applied it to others at the top of their field and it soon became the standard yardstick for learning something so well as to be an expert in a chosen field.

The problem is that the understanding morphed along the way and the idea of “becoming an expert” became, over time, acquiring a proficiency in a new field, and the data just does not support that hypothesis.  There really is a learning curve and the time to become proficient at something actually works out to about 20 hours, or 4 hours a day, Monday through Friday for 1 week, or 1 hour a day for 4 weeks.  In any event, it is much, much less than 10,000 hours.

The speaker pointed out 4 steps to acquiring a new skill or learning something new.  Of these, the 4th was the one that had the most impact.  Sure, steps 1-3 are good guidance, but step 4 is where the “magic” happens.  Step 4 is simply practice the skill for 20 hours.  All too often, we will find books to read, videos to watch and checklists to follow, but we won’t actually do the 20 hours of practice required to become proficient.  We have the ability to obtain the knowledge at our fingertips, but we don’t actually acquire the proficiency until we practice and experience it.

I have battled with that a little this week prepping for my presentation.  While I know quite a bit about what I am presenting, some of the skills that should be natural for the demonstration aspects are not as proficient as I would like, and it shows in my comfort level with the presentation.  Granted, I have a strong base of experience to draw from, but the actual mechanics are more than a little rusty.  So, I have been putting the 20 hour premise to the test, and I am finding it to hold true.  My proficiency and comfort have grown exponentially since practicing in earnest, and I am much more ready today than I was a week ago. So, take out your “I wish” lists and pick something you want to become proficient in.  Give it an hour a day for a month and you will be amazed at how much you will learn.

In case you missed the subtlety of yesterday’s post, it was about the implications of having an obligation disguised as an opportunity and failing to take action. Today’s post is the inverse both in circumstances and advice.

Many young batters, especially those who can hit for power, often prefer to go for the fences rather than take a mundane walk. The glory of the home run or even a single is far more attractive to them than doing nothing to get on base. Ironically, the data show that most of these young hitters have very little success with this approach and consequently, the team suffers because they could have had an opportunity to score a run if the hitter at least made it to first. Pitchers recognize these hitters quickly and throw junk even with a full count leading the hitter to swing wildly rather than take ball four.

Sometimes, we have a similar opportunity in our daily interactions with others. Someone may say or do something that so strongly tempts us to provide unsolicited advice or guidance because of our worldly experiences (aka old age). However, when we offer that advice we often don’t put ourselves in the other person’s shoes or examine the circumstances from their point of view (age, experience, gender, mindset, etc.) and our input does not come across as intended. Our advice and counsel may also come across as correction which can offend or more strongly deter our friend from heeding it.

There are many colloquial sayings about “taking ball four.” Let sleeping dogs lie; People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones; etc. Interestingly, Muphry’s law states that “If you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written.” Choosing to take ball four is often misperceived as inaction and sooooo many of us deplore failing to act. Just remember, choosing to not do something is still doing something and sometimes not doing something is the best course of action. The key is being a disciplined, confident enough hitter to know when to take ball four or swing at strike three.

This is always a great time of year in my opinion. I’m a big sports guy so the nexus of late season baseball, early season football, the start of hockey season and many other options offer a cornucopia of viewing and rooting choices for your entertainment. I decided to take advantage of this athletic abundance to offer a short piece of advice related to sports. It’s pretty simple. Never take a third strike.

So what does that mean. In batting sports (think baseball or softball), batter and pitchers battle around a series of pitches that can’t exceed three strikes or four balls. Strikes can be called when a batter swings and misses or when she doesn’t swing but the pitch comes across the plate between the shoulders and knees. There’s really nothing wrong with taking the first or second strike without swinging. Nothing is lost except an opportunity to swing and the batter might get a better idea of how the pitcher is throwing. However, when a batter takes a third strike, he essentially cedes the battle to the pitcher with no effort applied. I’ve heard it compared to playing poker and just giving the other players your chips without even playing your hand. The best hitters keep swinging and fouling off the pitch until they get one they like. They shape the opportunity to their advantage.

How does this apply in life. Most of don’t get put in single opportunity situations where the one chance we have makes or breaks our reputations, our careers or our lives. However, each of us get second (or third, fourth, etc) chances after falling short on our first try at something. When given that second chance, or seizing it on your own initiative, don’t act like you’ll get another chance. Swing at every pitch and keep hacking away until you get one you can put over the fence. One thing that is certain is that our chances don’t run on forever.