Two days have passed and time is limited. One thing to understand and accept is that we cannot go backwards. Once the time has passed, there is no way to recover. At the same time, it does not mean that we lose everything. What we have is the time now and the coming time if God is willing. Until yesterday night, I have not touched on work-related or learning related. But somehow starting from this afternoon, I have been thinking about statistics and data analysis.
At the same time, I need to remember that there is no need to continue all the way non-stop. There is also time to rest and to practise the habit such as writing this blog.
Also, I am thankful today because I can remember that we are limited. Usually on a big day such as today, the 1st day of Chinese New Year, I become stressed because there are so many people that we can contact and congratulate. Today at least I can enjoy congratulating people knowing that I cannot contact all. I just choose those that I remember and forgive myself for those that I have missed contacting.
Perhaps that is the key. We need to remember that we cannot do all. But we need to do all that we can. Also, today, just nice, there is another article which reminds me that multitasking is not good for our brain. We need to focus completing one task at a time before moving to another task. There is the tendency to switch after a small task because of the hormon produced by a little satisfaction. But we need to get used to hanging on so that we can complete a more solid thinking rather than keep switching the minds.
There are many things we need to learn. One point is to be humble and to be prepared to re-learn. I was learning data analysis from the swirl interactive self-tutorial in R Programming. During the process, it points to a youtube video by Khan Academy for 6th grade students. Somehow my pride was hurt in a sense that should I watch the youtube for 6th grade students. But that is the reality, I need to understand the same basic thing. I need to be thankful that I have the things to apply in the workplace, a privilege that a 6th grade student may not have. So, let’s continue to re-learn. For example, today it is great that I can understand better about the box and whisker plot. Also, it was good to learn that one of the most important steps in data analysis is to identify what questions we want to find the answer.
Today I have not practised much in terms of the breathing exercise, the muscle relaxation,and the REBT process. One thing I note is that I may not only deal with the tendency to feel stressed or anxious, I also need to deal with the perfectionist tendency. The activating event was that I was learning about minitab and found there were so many different features and options. My consequence was that I kept trying different options without answering the questions that I have set. The belief was that if there is something I don’t know, I need to explore it here and now. This is the belief that I need to challenge. If I have survived so long without that, why would it become so important now. It is ok that I don’t know all about something, that I can learn a little bit more the next time the opportunity comes, instead of trying to lump everything and digest at the same time.
Also, I need to tackle the irrational belief that I must make something that is perfect. I need to remember what is the objective. If the questions can be answered without knowing some feature, why not doing it. In the article about multitasking, there is a term of minimum effective dose borrowed from the medicine context. If we can solve something with the least effort, let’s do it.
I also need to keep practising to encourage myself. When I had learned about the data analysis this afternoon, I still have the tendency to do a self-talk saying that I still have not worked at all. In other word, I kept focusing on what I haven’t done instead of building on something that I have done.
A tips given by a friend in choosing what to do first is to do what I feel like doing for the half of day before trying to follow the to-do-list on the other second half of the day. It was a useful tips as I could just choose something to do first.
At the same time, I need to acknowledge that the improvement will not be as fast as I thought. So for example, if I now feel sleepy and probably cannot continue much of the work, it is fine. I can continue tomorrow. Also, it is fine if I could not complete the whole 30 mins of writing this blog.
Remember one of the video in the course on learning how to learn. Sleeping is good as it kinds of renew our brain’s synapses. Even there was a quote that it is a great suffering if someone could not sleep. So if it is time to sleep, let’s sleep and relax. There will be time tomorrow where we can work and give our best again.
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