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Are you looking to maximize your learning potential? See one, do one, teach one is an effective and powerful learning strategy that can help you reach your full educational potential. This method of learning involves observing a task being completed, attempting the task yourself, and finally teaching someone else how to do the task. By using this technique, you can quickly and efficiently learn new skills, knowledge, and abilities. This method has been used for centuries in many different cultures, and it is still a highly effective way to learn new things today. With see one, do one, teach one, you can gain a deeper understanding of the material and ensure that you remember it in the long run. Keep reading to learn more about this powerful learning technique and how it can help you maximize your learning potential.
What is the See One, Do One, Teach One learning strategy?
See one, do one, teach one is a powerful strategy for accelerated learning. It is based on the idea that you will learn fastest by observing and then doing, and then finally teaching what you have learned. This method builds long-term retention through a deeper understanding of the subject matter. You will learn not only how to do something, but you will develop a stronger knowledge of the “why” behind the skill as well. This will give you a higher degree of competency, which will come in handy in future situations. This method can be used with almost any skill, knowledge, or subject matter. You can learn anything from how to swim, to the basics of a new language, to a complex math equation. Basically, anything that you don’t already know how to do.
Benefits of See One, Do One, Teach One
There are many benefits to using the see one, do one, teach one learning strategy. Among these benefits, you can expect to improve your retention of the material, gain a deeper understanding of the topic, and increase your confidence. When using this learning technique, you will be actively applying what you are learning, which will allow you to retain the new information better than if you were to passively read or watch the information. You will also develop a deeper understanding of the topic, which means that you will be able to apply what you have learned in more situations. This will come in handy in everyday life, on the job, and in your career. You will also likely experience an increase in your confidence as you gain proficiency in the skill or topic. You can use see one, do one, teach one in a variety of situations, from learning new hobbies to mastering more complex topics.
Examples of how See One, Do One, Teach One can be used
– Language learning – One of the most effective ways to learn any new language is to use the see one, do one, teach one method. This can begin with learning and practicing the pronunciation of the language. Then, you would practice common phrases, such as “Hello,” and “How are you?” Next, you would attempt to have a short conversation with a native speaker. Finally, you would teach someone else how to pronounce the phrases that you have learned.
– New hobby – Another example of how to use the see one, do one, teach one method is to learn a new hobby, such as knitting or rock climbing. You could start by observing others knitting or rock climbing to get a feel for the general technique. Then, you could attempt to knit or climb yourself. Finally, you would teach someone else how to knit or climb.
– New skill – A new skill, such as learning how to drive a car, use a computer, or change a tire, would also benefit from the see one, do one, teach one method. You could start by observing someone else driving, using a computer, or changing a tire. Then, you could attempt to do it yourself. Finally, you would teach someone else how to do it.
How to get started with See One, Do One, Teach One
To get started with the see one, do one, teach one method, you will first need to choose a topic to learn. You can select anything that you would like to learn, but you may want to choose something that will have a practical application in your life. You could also select a topic that you have always been interested in but never had the opportunity to learn. Once you have selected a topic, you will then need to break it down into three parts. The first part is to observe someone else doing the skill or topic. The second part is to attempt to do the skill or topic yourself. The third and final part is to teach someone else how to do the skill or topic.
Tips for making the most out of See One, Do One, Teach One
There are a few key things to keep in mind if you want to make the most out of the see one, do one, teach one method. The first is to choose a topic that you are genuinely interested in learning. If you are not interested in the topic, you will not retain the information as well. Another important thing to keep in mind is that you are not comparing yourself to others. Every person has a different pace for learning new skills, and you should not feel as though you need to rush through the process. You may need to take more time to observe someone else doing the skill, attempt to do the skill yourself, and then teach someone else how to do it. You are the first person that you are learning this skill from, so you don’t have to rush yourself. Take your time, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You are learning a new skill, and it is normal to make mistakes.
How to measure your progress with See One, Do One, Teach One
To measure your progress when using the see one, do one, teach one method, you will first need to break your topic down into three parts as described above. The first part will be to observe someone else doing the skill or topic. The second part will be to attempt to do the skill or topic yourself. The third part will be to teach someone else how to do the skill or topic. Depending on the topic that you are learning, you can either keep a learning journal or create a blog. This will allow you to reflect on your learning process and track your progress as you go along.
Conclusion
The see one, do one, teach one method is an effective and powerful way to learn new skills and abilities. This method has been used for centuries in many different cultures, and it is still a highly effective way to learn new things today. With see one, do one, teach one, you can gain a deeper understanding of the material and ensure that you remember it in the long run. You can use this learning strategy to learn new skills, knowledge, and abilities in a short amount of time. There are many benefits to using the see one, do one, teach one method, and you can get started with it today.
Note
This article was generated by Writesonic and GPT-3.
This is the second article in a series on developing mastery of a Knowledge Domain:
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Third Place (Seattle Park) versus Third Space (African Waterfall with Chinese Tourists)
When it comes to understanding the concept of “third place” and “third space”, it is essential to recognize the differences between the two theories. The third place theory, first proposed by Ray Oldenburg in his book The Great Good Place, suggests that people need a space between home and work where they can be part of a community and engage in social activities. On the other hand, the third space theory, invented by Homi Bhabha in his book The Location of Culture, proposes that a third space is a hybrid space where individuals can negotiate their identities, as well as their cultural and social boundaries. Both theories have been widely discussed, but have yet to be compared in a meaningful way. This comparative analysis will provide insight into the similarities and differences between the theories, as well as their implications for our understanding of social and cultural life.
Overview of Third Place Theory
The idea of a third place is closely related to that of the “Great Good Place”, a term coined by Oldenburg in 1989, in his book The Great Good Place. Unlike a home or a workplace, a third place is a place where people are not required to be anything other than who they are. There is no pressure to be efficient, serious, productive, or successful. Rather, people can engage in activities that may be “just for fun”. In his article “The Third Place Thesis,” Oldenburg suggests that third places are essential to the mental and social health of individuals, particularly those in urban settings. Third places are necessary for individuals to have informal interactions and friendships, experience privacy, and have a break from the “routine of life”.
Overview of Third Space Theory
The concept of a third space is based on Bhabha’s term “third space”. In his book The Location of Culture, Bhabha proposes that a third space is situated between cultural and social identities, where individuals can negotiate their identities through performance. Bhabha defines “third” as “the space between two terms that are themselves in relation to each other”. In this case, the two terms are cultural identity and social identity. A third space is a hybrid space where individuals can negotiate their identities. This has been further explored in the literature on third spaces. For example, in her article “The Third Space: A Site of Ideological Production”, Shirley Anne Wai defines a third space as a “borderland” between two discourses, where individuals are able to negotiate their identities. She further explains that individuals are able to do this through “performative acts” in the third space. Other scholars have also recognized that a third space is a hybrid space that enables people to negotiate their identities in various ways.
Comparison of Third Place and Third Space Theory
The most obvious difference between the two theories is that the third place theory focuses on the social and mental health of individuals, where the third space theory focuses on the social and cultural identities of individuals. While the third place theory is all about the social aspects, the third space theory looks at the cultural aspects of individuals.
Similarities Between the Theories
Both theories recognize the importance of social and mental health, as well as the need for informal interactions and friendships. They also recognize that a third place is a public place where people can spend leisure time. Furthermore, both theories recognize that a third place is different from a home or a workplace, and that a third place provides a break from the “routine of life”.
Differences Between the Theories
While both theories acknowledge the importance of social and mental health, the third place theory focuses on the social aspects, while the third space theory focuses on the cultural aspects. In addition, while the third place theory focuses on the need for informal interactions and friendships, the third space theory focuses on the need for people to negotiate their cultural and social identities through performance.
Implications for Social and Cultural Life
This difference between the two theories has implications for our understanding of social and cultural life. For example, it is important to note that while the third place theory suggests that third places are necessary for individuals to have a break from the “routine of life”, the third space theory suggests that a third space is a hybrid space where individuals can negotiate their identities. In this case, the theory of “third place” does not recognize that individuals are able to negotiate their identities in a third place. While the third place theory suggests that people need a place between home and work where they can be part of a community, the third space theory suggests that individuals need a space where they can negotiate their cultural and social identities.
Conclusion
The theories of third place and third space have been discussed at length in the literature, but have yet to be compared in a meaningful way. This comparative analysis will provide insight into the similarities and differences between the theories, as well as their implications for our understanding of social and cultural life. While both theories acknowledge the importance of social and mental health, the third place theory focuses on the social aspects, while the third space theory focuses on the cultural aspects. In addition, while the third place theory focuses on the need for informal interactions and friendships, the third space theory focuses on the need for people to negotiate their cultural and social identities through performance. This difference between the two theories has implications for our understanding of social and cultural life.
Note on this Blog Post
This blog post was written in Writesonic with a prompt asking for a comparison between Third Place and Third Space. This discussion is the introductory article to a series of posts on the dislocation of our sense of Place and Space due to the pandemic.
Third Place and Third Space Theory as conceived by DALL-E
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After spending sixteen hours writing the previous blog post (“Becoming an Expert“), I decided to see what GPT Chat and Writesonic could produce.
I asked GPT Chat to explain Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours to become an expert:
I wanted a bit more so I asked GPT Chat to try again:
I then realized that I was in a chat program and I could interact with GPT Chat to learn more:
I wanted to see still more so I went to Writesonic to write a blog article for me:
Malcolm Gladwell’s Theory of Expertise: What Does It Take to Become an Expert?
Malcolm Gladwell’s theory of expertise has been a source of inspiration for many aspiring experts and professionals alike. Drawing from the experiences of some of the world’s most influential experts, his theory posits that it takes more than just talent and knowledge to become an expert. Instead, it requires dedication and hard work to master a skill and achieve success. Through in-depth research, Gladwell demonstrates that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a master in a particular field. He also suggests that passion, dedication, and a willingness to take risks all play a very important role in the journey towards becoming an expert. With the help of his theory, many people have been able to transform themselves from just aspiring experts to successful professionals.
What Does it Take to Become an Expert?
In order to become an expert in any field, you must have an in-depth knowledge about the industry and the subject matter. Experts bring value to the table through their knowledge, expertise, and the quality of their work. They are also the people who set trends and make a significant impact on the world through their work. A skill is something that you can do, whereas expertise is something that you know. It is important to differentiate between the two so that you can achieve success in your chosen field.
The 10,000 Hours Rule
Malcolm Gladwell’s theory of expertise also highlights the importance of dedicating enough time and effort towards achieving excellence in a particular field. For example, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in a specific skill or field. Experts in various fields have long emphasized the importance of consistent practice and dedication towards their chosen profession. Dmitry Horowitz, an internationally celebrated pianist, has said that “If you practice one hour a day, six days a week, it will take 10 years to acquire a skill. If you practice 10 hours a day, six days a week, it will take three years.” Gladwell’s research also suggests that it takes 10 years to become an expert in a given field. However, it is important to note that it is more about the quantity of hours than the quality of hours. Thus, you can practice in a sub-par manner and still achieve mastery over a particular skill. The quality of your practice sessions is more important than the number of hours you spend practicing. Ultimately, if you are not putting in the required effort and dedicating enough time towards the skill, you will not be able to master it.
Passion, Dedication & Taking Risks as Essential Traits
Another crucial aspect of becoming an expert is having a deep passion for your field. Having a passion for your profession is important because it will help you stay motivated and focused on your goals. It also helps you push yourself to the limit and pursue excellence in your work. Passion is a trait that cannot be learned or faked. Thus, if you don’t have a real passion for your profession, you will find it very difficult to succeed. Gladwell also suggests that it is important to be dedicated towards your profession. Dedication means that you are willing to make sacrifices to achieve success. It also means that you are willing to work hard on your craft. Both passion and dedication are essential traits that help experts excel in their fields. However, these traits alone will not make you an expert. You also need to be willing to take risks and make mistakes. Experts who achieve success are not the ones who never make mistakes. Rather, they are the ones who are willing to take calculated risks, face their fears, and embrace failure.
Examples of Experts Who Followed Gladwell’s Theory
There are many examples of experts who have followed Gladwell’s theory to become experts in their fields. For example, the tennis champion, Serena Williams, has been playing tennis since she was a child. She has been playing the sport for nearly 20 years and has dedicated her entire life towards achieving success in tennis. Williams also has a passion for tennis and has been playing the sport ever since she was a child. With 10,000 hours of dedicated practice and a deep passion for the sport, she has been able to transform herself from an aspiring expert to a successful tennis player. Another example is that of the renowned astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson. He has been interested in astronomy since he was a child and started pursuing a career in astronomy at the age of 11. After years of dedicated practice and hard work, Tyson has transformed himself from just an aspiring expert to a successful astrophysicist.
Benefits of Becoming an Expert
Becoming an expert has many benefits. For starters, it helps you find passion and purpose in your life. It also helps you build a successful career and become successful in your chosen field. Experts are highly in demand in many industries and their services are often used by businesses and organizations. Becoming an expert also helps you become a leader in your field, as it gives you the necessary skills and knowledge to transform your industry and community. Becoming an expert also helps you make a significant impact on your community by sharing your knowledge and skills with others. Experts have the potential to positively transform the lives of others, which is a very fulfilling experience.
How to Use Gladwell’s Theory to Become an Expert
Becoming an expert takes time, effort, and hard work. However, if you follow Gladwell’s theory and use it to transform yourself from an aspiring expert to a successful expert, you will be able to achieve success in no time at all. First, you must have a passion for the field that you want to pursue. Next, you need to dedicate a significant amount of time towards your profession. You must also have a willingness to take risks and make mistakes along the way. Finally, you must have a desire to be the best. If you follow these steps, you will be able to transform yourself from an aspiring expert to a successful expert in no time at all.
Conclusion
Malcolm Gladwell’s theory of expertise has helped many aspiring experts transform themselves into successful and influential professionals. It is important to note that it takes 10,000 hours of dedicated practice and effort to become an expert in a specific field. Experts must also have passion, dedication, and a willingness to take risks to achieve success. With the help of Gladwell’s theory, you can transform yourself from an aspiring expert to a successful expert in no time at all.
Writesonic User Interface for Writing an Article
That was way too easy.
While very different blog posts came from the original writing versus the AI augmented writing, this five minute application of GPT-3 sure was easier.
I can’t wait to see which article gathers more likes.
This is the second article in a series on developing mastery of a Knowledge Domain:
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“Once he understood that it wasn’t knowledge that was power, but the application of it, his life had completely changed.” – Act of War by Brad Thor
In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success the arbitrary 10,000 hours to become an expert was introduced to me. I’d never thought much about what it takes to develop expertise in a particular knowledge domain.
“In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.
“The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in anything,” writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin. “In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Of course, this doesn’t address why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others do. But no one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.”
Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.
This was the opportunity that greeted Bill Joy when he arrived on the Ann Arbor campus in the fall of 1971. He hadn’t chosen Michigan because of its computers. He had never done anything with computers in high school. He was interested in math and engineering. But when the programming bug hit him in his freshman year, he found himself—by the happiest of accidents—in one of the few places in the world where a seventeen-year-old could program all he wanted.
“Do you know what the difference is between the computing cards and time-sharing?” Joy says. “It’s the difference between playing chess by mail and speed chess.” Programming wasn’t an exercise in frustration anymore. It was fun.
“I lived in the north campus, and the Computer Center was in the north campus,” Joy went on. “How much time did I spend there? Oh, a phenomenal amount of time. It was open twenty-four hours. I would stay there all night, and just walk home in the morning. In an average week in those years, I was spending more time in the Computer Center than on my classes. All of us down there had this recurring nightmare of forgetting to show up for class at all, of not even realizing we were enrolled.
I’ve spent a lot of time over the years trying to answer that question. I’ve also spent a lot of years trying to answer the question “can you become an expert in less than 10,000 hours?”
I found part of the answer to the first question a couple of pages later:
“At Michigan, I was probably programming eight or ten hours a day,” he went on. “By the time I was at Berkeley I was doing it day and night. I had a terminal at home. I’d stay up until two or three o’clock in the morning, watching old movies and programming. Sometimes I’d fall asleep at the keyboard”—he mimed his head falling on the keyboard—“and you know how the key repeats until the end, and it starts to go beep, beep, beep? After that happens three times, you have to go to bed. I was still relatively incompetent even when I got to Berkeley. I was proficient by my second year there. That’s when I wrote programs that are still in use today, thirty years later.” He paused for a moment to do the math in his head—which for someone like Bill Joy doesn’t take very long. Michigan in 1971. Programming in earnest by sophomore year. Add in the summers, then the days and nights in his first year at Berkeley. “So, so maybe…ten thousand hours?” he said, finally. “That’s about right.”
Bill Joy did a couple of things differently than we did at our Duke Medical Center computing laboratory. First he worked on open source software – Unix. Secondly, he worked in a geographic hotbed of computing – Silicon Valley. We worked on rewriting a proprietary version of the DEC PDP-11 DOS operating system to make it multi-user. There wasn’t much of a community either locally or nationally for us to work with. And we weren’t interested in sharing our work for free.
Since Gladwell published Outliers, a lot of articles showed up to explain the concept further. This article lists a lot of the additional research and points out that 10,000 hours is relatively arbitrary. In “You Will Never Become an Expert in Anything Unless…“, the authors add four more attributes to Gladwell’s 10,000 hours:
Clear, Timely Feedback
A Predictable Environment
Joy – does the activity bring you joy?
An opportunity to get out of your comfort zone
I would add a few other attributes to the list from my own experiences:
Shift from focusing on answers to focusing on powerful questions
Embed yourself in a community of other individuals wanting to become experts in the same knowledge domain
Spend an equal amount of time on maintaining the objects and tools of your expertise
Incorporate double loop learning, reflection in/on action and after action reviews
Overcome the four challenges to learning
Shift from focusing on answers to questions
During my time of mentoring by Russ Ackoff, my big takeaway was that Western Education has it all wrong by focusing everything on answers to questions prepared by a teacher. He pointed out that most deep learning occurs when the student comes up with their own questions. In On Questions, I capture a life time of wrestling with this switch to focusing on questions.
I notice how challenging this switch to questions versus answers is every time I ask a colleague to take notes for me when I give a presentation. I instruct them to only take down the questions that are asked, not any answers I give. I share with them that I can always recreate the answers. What I have a hard time with while presenting is remembering what was the exact question that was asked. I have yet to get back a set of notes that capture the questions. My colleagues no matter how much I cajole them just capture my answers. The problem with getting others to pay attention to the questions is one of many reasons I love the ability of tools like otter.ai to generate transcripts from digital conversations.
I also observe how difficult this switch is when advanced academic students switch from taking courses to performing research (like when they enter a PhD program). Suddenly after a long successful career of taking classes, they are asked to come up with their own questions to drive their own unique research. Most researchers find it a challenge to switch from answers to questions.
Embed yourself in a community of committed learners
I wanted to learn more about fine wine production. I embedded myself at Benziger Family Winery while providing some technology consulting. The director of marketing at the time was studying for his Masters of Wine certification. I had recently picked up a bottle of Puccioni Zinfandel from Glenn Proctor that was produced at Benziger Family Winery and I wanted to see how good my colleague was at the practical part of the Masters of Wine (MW) exam. This part of the exam tests the candidate in a 12 wine blind tasting for an assessment of variety, origin, commercial appeal, winemaking, quality and style.
Chris blindly tasted my Zinfandel and did a stunning job of assessing the wine according to the MW criteria. At the end, he shared “but it isn’t really a Zinfandel. It is a good blend that has some Zinfandel in it but there are several other varieties in it as well. There is Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc.” I objected sharing that the winemaker assured me that it was 100% Zinfandel from his family vineyard.
We heard laughter at the end of the tasting room bar from one of the assistant winemakers.
“Chris is right,” he shared. “I am the one who tended the barrels of Zinfandel and when it came time to top off the barrels due to evaporation, we would add whatever red wines we had handy. Those other red wines were what we had available.”
I was impressed.
Chris then asked if I wanted to join his community of MW students for their Wednesday night tasting sessions. Absolutely. I attended the next session where the wines for tasting that night were from the Priorat region of Spain. One student volunteered for each session to pick out the wines and provide an overview of the region and styles. Then the blind tastings occurred. Each student wrote down their assessments about each of the 10 wines. Then the group shared their answers. I was stunned at how well they each did. I thought I was viewing one of those movie experts given a random wine and they could place the vineyard and the winemaker. I always thought that was a joke. Yet, here I watched five MW students each be able to assess the wines in great detail.
I witnessed at the time a group that was discussing the attributes mentioned in the article above. There was great joy in the session. The reciprocal learning that occurred amongst peers as they gathered immediate feedback was extensive. They were in a predictable environment with trusted colleagues. Yet, each class session was an exercise in getting out of their comfort zones with wines and a region that they were barely familiar with. I also observed them asking questions and making assessments beyond the MW questions. By asking additional questions they were getting ready for the research paper phase of their MW exam.
Maintaining the objects of your expertise
Recently, my son John, shared the highlights of an off road motorcycle trip he’d taken with his tribe. They explored the wilderness surrounding Moab, Utah, for days at a time. He described the thrills and challenges of the riding on his bigger off road motorcycle along with the breakdowns and maintenance problems they encountered.
I realized that over the last ten years John had developed a 10,000 hour expertise in off road motor cycling. I had not connected that he had also developed a 10,000 hour expertise in maintaining his coterie of 10 plus motorcycles.
I wondered aloud if maintaining motorcycles was the same expertise as riding a motorcycle. As we talked, I realized that there were at least three separate 10,000 expert mastery that he achieved. One is the art of riding. One is the art of maintaining. The third is the art of planning for different types of off roading and track riding. Knowing how to assess the risk of a ride and the cost of not bringing the right tools and replacement parts was an expertise in itself that John had mastered.
John expanded on the two key expertises of riding and maintaining with the example of tuning the suspensions on each of his bikes. “It is winter time so now is the time I can do the time consuming work of taking my suspension apart and replacing all the bearings and such. I’ve been feeling the slight problems with some of the components of my suspension. This is different than tuning my suspension for a particular off road or track environment. I know there is something wrong now. So winter is when I fix it.”
“During the rest of the year, when I am riding I am constantly evaluating how I want my ride to feel. Prior to a ride, I tune my suspension for the kind of terrain we are going to be on. I am constantly doing A/B comparisons with mechanically what I need to tune along with how I want my ride to feel. Kind of like usability in software with all the A/B tests.”
I then asked John how he learned to do both the riding and the maintaining. I was in for more surprises.
“When I first started riding street motorcycles, 20 years ago, I took Eric Robinson’s advice and read Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough. The book saved me an enormous amount of time. But riding an off-road and trail motorcycle was much different. While many of the books or Youtube videos helped me get started, I just had to go out by myself and make a ton of mistakes and learn from the mistakes. The books and videos helped with what to look out for or avoid. It was the repetition and practice that helped me get better. Sort of a feedback loop of watch/read, go out and practice, come back and watch/read, go back out and practice ad infinitum.”
“Now that I am proficient at trail riding, I can learn from my peers. When we go riding I pay attention to how my peers deal with obstacles. When I see someone being more successful, I stop and compare notes to understand what they did better than how I navigated the obstacle.”
I then asked how he started maintaining his motorcycles?
John shared that he took my recommendation to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. From Pirsig he took to heart that maintaining a motorcycle is different than maintaining a car. If something bad happens mechanically on a motorcycle you are in a bad place. Pirsig also shared that motorcycle mechanics generally are not as able as auto mechanics to find and fix what is wrong. Starting with his street bikes, John has done all of his own maintenance.
At the start, John was able to learn a lot on motorcycle maintenance from online forums. With the advent of Youtube, most every maintenance procedure he wants to do on a particular make and model of bike has a video of how to do the diagnosis and fix the problem.
As we talked I realized that developing a specific expertise may require a specific type of learning and a specific medium for learning.
Reflection In/On Action
Donald Schon introduced several themes around reflection in action and reflection on action. These themes included his description of double loop learning. Hugh Munby of Queen’s University introduces these concepts:
“Schon’s two books (The Reflective Practitioner, Educating the Reflective Practitioner) advance the position that there is a fundamentally important aspect to the knowledge possessed by professionals that has been overlooked. Initially, he develops his case by arguing that our academic institutions place undue emphasis upon “technical rationality”~the disciplines of knowledge and the methods that are believed to make formal, prepositional knowledge reliable and valid. Our society’s emphasis upon technical rationality, Schon argues, has led to an undervaluing of the practical knowledge of action that is central to the work of practitioners. This form of knowledge, which he calls “knowing-in-action,” is the practical knowledge that professionals hold about their professional work and that cannot be formulated in prepositional terms. By exploring the elements of knowing-in-action, Schon demonstrates that professional knowledge itself has been virtually unrecognized because it appears not to be as “rigorous” as knowledge developed in the more familiar and public “scientific” research traditions. In his argument, Schon proposes a fundamental reorganization of how to think about professional practice and the relationship of theory to practice. For Schon, professional knowledge is developed within action, just as it is articulated within action.”
The US Military’s After Action Review process is another example of Reflection On Action.
While undergoing PTSD therapy after a severe auto accident, I encountered another form of reflection on action from Sharon Stanley:
“A somatic reflection can initiate a therapeutic encounter, be embedded within an encounter, conclude the processing of lived experience, or mark the closure of a therapeutic relationship. Somatic reflection begins with somatic awareness—an embodied higher cortical process, a totemic witness, that invites the integration of previously disconnected elements of lived experience into cohesion and connectivity. It is important for helping professionals to continually and intuitively reflect-in-action by recalling diverse moments of intersubjective connection, disconnection, and information regarding neural states, emotions, images, and thoughts, then integrate this material with right-hemispheric speed and acuity. The shared experience of somatic reflection informs the ongoing inquiry and interventions and gradually becomes more explicit in the therapeutic conversation. Once there has been some integration of subcortical elements, such as sensations with emotions, or movements with images, a somatic reflection has begun. At first, the moments of reflection and integration are short and to the point; however, as connectivity with higher cortical processes is formed, they become more frequent and expansive. The following example demonstrates the use of somatic reflection at the closure of a therapeutic session with a client.” – Relational and Body Centered Practices for Healing Trauma
Sharon’s steps for a “Reflection in Action” are:
Recall States of Mind Before the Experience
Recall the Vivid Moments of a Shared Lived Experience and Embody Those that Offer Vitality
Recall arousal and emotions in that Encounter
Identify the Emerging “New”
Association of the New Material with Prior Knowledge
Valuing the New
What do you Imagine Might Change with This New Knowledge
“When a man starts to learn, he is never clear about his objectives. His purpose is faulty; his intent is vague. He hopes for rewards that will never materialize for he knows nothing of the hardships of learning.
“He slowly begins to learn – bit by bit at first, then in big chunks. And his thoughts soon clash. What he learns is never what he pictured, or imagined, and so he begins to be afraid. Learning is never what one expects. Every step of learning is a new task, and the fear the man is experiencing begins to mount mercilessly, unyieldingly. His purpose becomes a battlefield.
“And thus he has stumbled upon the first of his natural enemies: Fear!
“And thus he has encountered his second enemy: Clarity! That clarity of mind, which is so hard to obtain dispels fear, but also blinds.
“But he has also come across his third enemy: Power! Power is the strongest of all enemies. And naturally the easiest thing to do is to give in; after all, the man is truly invincible. He commands; he begins by taking calculated risks, and ends in making rules, because he is a master.
“The man will be, by then, at the end of his journey of learning, and almost without warning he will come upon the last of his enemies: Old Age! This enemy is the cruelest of all, the one he won’t be able to defeat completely, but only fight away.”
I laugh every time I read the last challenge on the journey of learning – overcoming Old Age. I resemble that remark now.
In Summary
Becoming an expert requires intention and practice. This posts suggest that there are several practices beyond Gladwell’s 10,000 hour requirement to become an expert.
Clear, Timely Feedback
A Predictable Environment
Joy – does the activity bring you joy?
An opportunity to get out of your comfort zone
Shift from focusing on answers to focusing on powerful questions
Embed yourself in a community of other individuals wanting to become experts in the same knowledge domain
Spend an equal amount of time on maintaining the objects and tools of your expertise
Incorporate double loop learning, reflection in action, reflection on action, and after action reviews into your expertise practices
Overcome the four challenges of learning
This is the first in a series of blog posts on the practices to develop expertise and mastery.
Covid Deaths in U.S.: 1,105,546 Get Vaccinated!Stop the War in Ukraine!
After being unable to raise $1M for my latest startup, I stare in anger and awe and sadness at the latest antics of Elon Musk lighting a match to his $44B acquisition of Twitter. Twitter was the last social media app that I participated in. As Musk allows the crazies back on including the folks pushing misinformation about Covid, I had enough. I pulled the plug on Twitter in the same way I did after watching Zuckerberg and Facebook almost single handedly destroy American democracy.
However, I can’t stop watching the talking heads and reading the pundits about different views of the dumpster fire of Twitter.
“Elon Musk had good reasons to feel unfulfilled enough to buy Twitter for $44 billion. He had pioneered online payments, upended the car industry, revolutionized space travel, and even experimented with ambitious brain-computer interfaces. His cutting-edge technological feats had made him the world’s richest entrepreneur. Alas, neither his achievements nor his wealth granted him entry into the new ruling class of those harnessing the powers of cloud-based capital. Twitter offers Musk a chance to make amends.
“Since capitalism’s dawn, power stemmed from owning capital goods; steam engines, Bessemer furnaces, industrial robots, and so on. Today, it is cloud-based capital, or cloud capital in short, that grants its owners hitherto unimaginable powers. . . .
“For while he was busy working out how to make mass-produced electric cars desirable and to profit from conquering outer space, Amazon, Google, Alibaba, Facebook, and Tencent’s WeChat were wrapping their tentacles firmly around platforms and interfaces with “everything app” potential. Only one such interface was available for purchase. Musk’s challenge now is to enhance Twitter’s own cloud capital and hook it up to his existing Big Data network, while constantly enriching that network with data collected by Tesla cars crisscrossing Earth’s roads and countless satellites crisscrossing its skies. Assuming he can steady the nerves of Twitter’s remaining workforce, his next task will be to eliminate bots and weed out trolls so that New Twitter knows, and owns, its users’ identities.
“In a letter to advertisers, Musk correctly noted that irrelevant ads are spam, but relevant ones are content. In these techno-feudal times, this means that messages unable to modify behavior are spam, but those that sway what people think and do are the only content that matters: true power.
“As a private fief, Twitter could never be the world’s public square. That was never the point. The pertinent question is whether it will grant its new owner secure membership in the new techno-feudal ruling class.”
Buried in the article was my introduction to “cloud capital.” While I didn’t like the rationale of the article, there was new learning to counter my sadness at Twitter being ruined.
I mentioned this article to my friend and colleague Katherine. She laughed and said that she was wrestling with the conspiracy theory implications of Musk owning both Starlink and Twitter. She mused that the combination of owning both of those along with the abuse and control of “free speech” had dangerous implications for our future.
“Risky behavior can be a way to force everyone in a company to rise to the occasion and overperform, as happened with Tesla in 2013. That’s clearly what Musk is hoping for now, demanding that people commit to become “hardcore” or leave the company. But “existential stakes” also necessarily mean there’s a real danger the company won’t survive. So, while it might be too early to write Twitter’s obituary, it’s fair to acknowledge that the fate of the “digital public square” now rests on one man’s audacious gamble. In the end, both Musk and Twitter may well come to grief.”
Her article reminded me of employees at Microsoft in the days when millionaires were being created regularly. I always wondered when the arrogant ones would pontificate if they had confused luck with intelligence.
“Mr. Arthur argues that Microsoft has used its clout to gain great advantage in applications like word processing (Microsoft Word) and spreadsheets (Microsoft Excel). Bundled with Microsoft 95, due in August, is the company’s on-line service, Microsoft Network, which will almost instantly be on millions of more computers than rivals like America Online, Compuserve and Prodigy. If Microsoft acquires Intuit, it would have a major head start in electronic banking, he says.
“The Government, Mr. Arthur contends, should intervene to make sure that a company’s control of one market does not give it a major edge in new high-tech markets — to prevent one runner in a 100-yard dash starting at the 40-yard mark. In his view, that could mean blocking the Intuit merger to preserve competition in home banking and in on-line services making Microsoft Network have an arms-length relationship with Microsoft’s Windows.”
Are we are the point where Elon Musk should be required to divest of one or more of his businesses?
One of the bedrocks of our democracy is the Rule of Law combined with the sharing of facts. During the last 20 years we’ve witnessed the filter bubbles that result in very few shared facts across strata of politics or economic life. With the ability to control physical communications (Starlink) and a public forum (twitter) and the ability to connect directly to the brain and the ability to create deep fakes or synthetic media, Musk now controls the ability to disseminate a wide range of alternative facts.
Covid Deaths in U.S.: 1,085,139 Get Vaccinated!Stop the War in Ukraine!
Since writing “Curating My Way Into Existence,” I find myself periodically having to restart my existence writing. I am at one of those junctions yet again.
The process is familiar now. I realize I am feeling depressed and no amount of exercise will pull me out of it. Slowly I feel the need to find a yellow pad and sit for a while with my yellow pad and free write. There is no intention. There is just me and a pad of paper and a ball point pen.
The reminder trigger this time was a blog post by Austin Kleon for “The Thirty Day Challenge.”
“Someone once asked me to distill all of my books into one piece of advice, and, off the top of my head, I said: “Try sitting down in the same place at the same time for the same amount of time every day and see what happens.”
“In Steal Like an Artist, I wrote about comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s calendar method of daily joke writing:
You break your work into daily chunks. Each day, when you’re finished with your work, make a big fat X in the day’s box. Every day, instead of just getting work done, your goal is to just fill a box. “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”
I printed out Kleon’s simple check box for the 30 day challenge and started writing.
Every Day I will “free write for 30 minutes.”
Then after two weeks or so I get the desire to start writing on my blog. For a couple of days I play with topics that I might want to write about. Finally I open up WordPress and write my first blog in several months.
The magic of this process is getting the eternal swirl of angst and stresses and wild ideas out of my head and onto paper that I can see with my two eyes (not my inner third eye). For me there is something that happens with this loop of idea to hand to pen and back through seeing what is being written that frees my spirit. Things start to make sense. Connections are made that I couldn’t see in the internal swirl of half baked ideas.
Writing myself back into existence. It is what I am driven to do.
In a discussion with Marshall Kirkpatrick about his climate change custom search engine, he suggested I take Harold Jarche’s Personal Knowledge Mastery Online Workshop. After looking at Harold’s blog, highlighting and tagging paragraphs from several posts, and exchanging emails with Harold I signed on. Little did I know I was engaging with a master of mastery.
Harold’s posts on “the knowledge artisan” captured my attention. Knowledge worker seems like a poor term to describe the work that consultants, product managers, customer success professionals, researchers, and marketers perform. Harold’s definition of knowledge artisan captures the essence of skill and craft that goes into any form of knowledge work:
“An artisan is skilled in a craft and uses specialized tools or machinery. Artisans were the dominant producers of goods before the Industrial Revolution. Knowledge artisans are similar to their pre-industrial counterparts, especially when it comes to tools. Knowledge artisans not only design the work, but they can do the work. It is not passed down an assembly line.”
As we reviewed our qualitative research that led to digital working styles, we realized the term “knowledge artisan” fit what we were hearing from product managers, UX strategy consultants, management consultants, startup CEOs, and customer success professionals.
We expanded the definition:
A knowledge artisan takes on important yet ill defined projects that require the selection of digital tools to research the needs, designs the unique work process and outcome, engages colleagues for collaboration, performs the work, and shares the work with their internal or external colleagues.
Due to the many unique projects that a knowledge artisan takes on during their professional career, it is difficult to keep track of the digital artifacts that they might need for future projects. Clients are unwilling to fund the curation of these artifacts and there is never enough extra time. Knowledge artisans need a “second brain.”
Tiago Forte brands his life’s work as Building a Second Brain. Forte asserts that taking notes and processing of notes is the building block of a second brain:
“More than half the workforce today can be considered “knowledge workers”—professionals for whom knowledge is their most valuable asset, and who spend a majority of their time managing large amounts of information. In addition, no matter what our formal role is, all of us have to come up with new ideas, solve novel problems, and communicate with others effectively. We have to do these things regularly, reliably, not just once in a while.” (pp. 22-23).
The knowledge artisan wants to be efficient and reuse as much relevant previous work as possible. Yet, she wants to be efficient and meet the unique needs of each client and project.
The TAI Group in their executive coaching training starts with their “Who’s There?” Platform. Based on their extensive work in professional theater, the TAI Group starts with helping knowledge artisans understand who is there – their audience. At the end of a training or a client engagement, they ask “Who’s there now?”
Product Managers are examples of knowledge artisans whether creating new products or generating road maps for existing products. Each release is about creating something that hasn’t existed before for an ill defined audience (there is never enough time to exhaustively research the audience to know who’s there) that has yet to be defined goals.
KnowNow is designed for the knowledge artisan. KnowNow flexibly supports finding previous work artifacts and processes to serve as the starting point for defining the work on a new project. Building on common cloud content platforms (Microsoft, Google, Slack, Dropbox) for enterprise and personal content and web search tools (Google, Bing), KnowNow brings previous and current content into shareable spaces for co-creation of new content. KnowNow then serves as a common repository to share the knowledge artisan’s work product with the client so that the client can keep found things found.
Harold Jarche places the knowledge artisan in the locus between work teams, communities of practice and social networks.
As CEO and co-founder, Skip Walter is the visionary and driving force behind KnowNow and Factor10x.
Last night, I got quite frightened when my CR-V decided to slam on the brakes while I was crossing railroad tracks in Seattle. Fortunately the car behind me didn’t hit me. I was able to continue on my journey.
“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating popular Honda Accord sedans and CR-V SUVs for a possible glitch that, according to numerous driver complaints, sometimes causes the cars to randomly slam on the brakes without the driver touching the brake pedal.
“The vehicles are equipped with Automatic Emergency Braking systems that are supposed to automatically apply the brakes if the driver fails to do it themselves in certain situations, such as a vehicle stopping in front of them or a pedestrian in the vehicle’s path. The systems are primarily designed to prevent, or at least reduce the severity of, rear end collisions. The vehicles being investigated are 2018 and 2019 model year Accords and 2017 to 2019 CR-Vs. There are a total of about 1.7 million of these vehicles currently on the road in US, according to NHTSA.
“NHTSA has received 278 complaints of sudden braking for no reason in Accords and CR-Vs. Six of these complaints allegedly involved collisions, some resulting in minor injury, according to NHTSA documents. Several people who submitted complaints to NHTSA said the problem occurred in their vehicles multiple times.”
Since this was a big deal safety issue for me, I went to the NHTSA website to file a report about phantom braking. I then called our dealer and asked to have our Honda CR-V checked out. I assumed that they could dump the log files in the car and see the phantom braking event.
Nope. Not so much.
After several hours of many different kinds of tests and checking several different databases, the very senior mechanic assured me there was no problem. I then explained the problem to him directly (without intermediaries). He laughed and shared “oh, now that you describe that you were driving in snow and ice, your radar unit is just dirty.”
We went and looked at the car and sure enough the radar unit was dirty.
He then shared those dreaded words “it is in the owners manual. You should regularly clean off your radar unit.” But I didn’t even know where the radar unit was located. And I sure never read the owners manual.
The mechanic’s explanation is when the radar unit gets dirty the radar waves are scattered and so the unit can detect an object that isn’t really there.
Oh great, so now every 50 miles in winter weather I’ve got to get out and clean my radar unit.
I don’t mind when my car is trying to be helpful by letting me know I need to stop for a cup of coffee. But I really mind when the car slams on the brakes without warning because it “phantomly” thinks there is an object in front of me.
I was also perplexed that none of the car’s log files captured that the brakes were automatically slammed on. When I got home I decided to explore what is going on with computer logging of errors on my “intelligent” car. I stumbled into a whole new world of new concepts that ranged from Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) to diagnostic trouble codes (DTC) to event data recorder (EDR) to journey data recorders.
As it turns out the EDRs only record a rolling 15-20 seconds of information. This information is only saved if there is a collision. Insurance companies tap into this data with something called telematics to save the EDR data to determine what kind of driver you are. The telematics device ties into your Onboard Diagnostics port.
However, as a consumer I don’t have access to the devices OR the processing software to make sense of the continuing stream of data from my “intelligent” car.
I was disappointed to learn that when the brakes were automatically applied no DTC was recorded so the Honda mechanics could not verify my problem in real life.
What a fascinating rabbit hole for learning about my car. But now I can’t trust my intelligent car and I have a new found fear that wasn’t there before in my ignorance of my car’s intelligence.
“But you should have read the owners manual to know about cleaning off the radar unit?” the mechanic said.
As I described this problem and the fix to my wife, she asked “how did you know what to search for to find something called “phantom braking”?” That is another story.
Life is complicated enough, but now I have to daily maintain something I am not sure I want.
Covid Deaths in U.S.: 1,030,000 Get Vaccinated!Stop the War in Ukraine!
As I walked across a wooden bridge over the marsh on Oak Island, NC, with my trusty hiking poles, a woman shared “are you promoting Nordic walking as the new exercise for older folks?”
Oak Island, NC marsh walkway
I chuckled and responded “Nope. After four surgeries to repair my left leg, I need these hiking poles to stay stable while I’m walking.”
As she turned she said “either way, Nordic Walking is really good exercise.”
Thanks to Google, it turns out Nordic Walking is a thing:
“Have you ever noticed people out walking with poles even on flat surfaces and wondered why they are doing it? This is known as Nordic walking, which is a little bit like cross country skiing but without the snow.
“Walking with poles was first developed in Scandinavia and came to central Europe about 20 years ago. For some reason, it has not become particularly popular even though it has many health benefits.”
I had no idea there were at least seven health benefits to Nordic Walking:
You burn more calories.
It may reduce limb pain.
Improves upper body strength.
Increases core strength.
Reduces risk of falling.
Boosts cardiovascular health.
You can walk faster.
I can attest to the first six items. Unfortunately, after my surgeries I have to walk with care so I walk much slower than before my handicap.
Nordic walking in the Bainbridge Island woods and Arches National Park
The sun is out. It is a cool summer day. Time for some Nordic walking to get six out of the seven health benefits.
Covid Deaths in U.S.: 1,030,000 Get Vaccinated!Stop the War in Ukraine!
One of the joys of walking the many nature trails on Bainbridge Island is finding gnome homes.
My favorite is Gnome Home No. 2 which is located on the Bluff Trail. I pass by the gnome residence several times a week.
Left: Original tree with large fungi Right: Addition of Gnome Home No. 2
Usually I have my head down to watch for rocks and roots. Today, I noticed that my favorite gnome homes wasn’t on the right tree.
New location for Gnome Home No. 2
Then I noticed a tree down across the path.
The tree that fell had the two large fungi that the gnome home lived between. Fortunately, the tree fell in such a way that the gnome home wasn’t crushed.
Left: Fallen gnome home tree Middle: Fungi fell right side up Right: Split tree
Thank you to the kind path walker who relocated the gnome home to a stronger tree.
On the Way to Somewhere Else 