Have you ever seen that statistical curve? The one that represents your gain in knowledge compared to your increasing awareness of all the things you don’t know? The line showing your gains in knowledge is on a steady, barely imperceptible climb. The line showing your awareness of what you don’t know goes exponentially off the chart. Still, we must try or give up. And giving up is not a happy place to be. This means that while we aim toward work efficiency on one hand, we have to be willing to deal with the learning curve of acquiring knowledge and skills in order to make more progress toward overall efficiency (and hopefully enjoyment of life). Maybe I think too much. Maybe I’m on to something that will improve the state of this rather helpless female.
That is not to say we have to know everything about everything. There is some wisdom to the division of labor and detailed knowledge. We only have so many hours in the day and if we try to be completely self-sufficient we are actually often being inefficient with our resources and opportunities.
That is one reason electricity is so great. It gives the weak power and makes tools available to us that we don’t have to completely understand in order to use well. Well, I mean learn to use and hopefully well. I, personally, have to be ready to be constantly humiliated by the tools I try to use, even if they are a something other people think is a no-brainer. Like the shop vac.
I’m making progress, as I tell in this blog for D&B Supply about my, ahem, new rules for shop vac use when using the blower mode. But I know I have a long way to go.
Sometimes, you I have to be willing to do things that may appear odd to other people, like mark the location of the shop vac on/off switch with a permanent marker. I love permanent markers. If there is that one weak link in the process that I can’t remember, why not leave myself messages, like a voice speaking from the past, reminding me of former things. Things I need to know now. Okay, maybe one weak link is wishful thinking, but I only need to deal with one at a time. Usually.
I suppose you could say I am “the weak link.” And you might be right, but many a person has gotten things done by stubborn determination. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes you choke or get cuts and bruises. But overall, as long as I don’t worry too much about what others think, I’m having a fairly good time. Hey, I know how to write come computer code now, simply because I keep trying to write my blog. I can remove fence post with a bar and a chain, although not very fast. And I can run 16 miles at one time barefoot. In less than 3 hours. Really, you could call me the tortoise of training, because I have very slowly worked up to it.
It’s a weird combination of trying hard, but also learning how to relax into the process of learning. If I am exhausted, I can’t learn nearly as well. I probably can’t even do the things I think I know how to do well. Did that make sense?
It seems that “being efficient in my work” is a goal that can only be reached for if I am willing to be constantly learning. It is a bit of a conundrum, a balance of knowing how to engage, when, and at what level. BKHEWWL. Okay, maybe I need to come up with a better acronym. But you see what I mean. Don’t be afraid to admit your helplessness of the moment, because nobody knows everything. Then, have fun learning.
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