Friday, April 10, 2009

Friday

tip-o-day

Here's an unusual tip from me that doesn't have to do with cleaning and/or home maintenance -- because really we are all swamped right now with spring chores.

Since starting the new job after having been at my last job for 8 years - I have had to dust off my brain and start using it again. Its a little rusty, but I can just feel the synapses springing to life.

Being the 'new person' in a technical position where all the technology is new to me - I, of course, find myself with lots of questions to ask.

Rather than jumping out of my chair to find someone every time I become confused (remembering of course that actually speaking with someone is often the best way to learn) I have been instead taking time out to compose an email with my question(s).

This gives me an opportunity to carefully think out what it is that I want to ask and to step through it in such a way as to make it clear to someone else. Which I believe is the key part of the process - explaining things to someone else... someone who has not been sitting in your confused head for the last hour.
I have found that often times the shear act of this type of thought process helps me to figure out many of the answers on my own!

So, while you may not be the new person on the job - you can apply this learning process to fixing a sink or installing a new window or even bathing your cat.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

no number of emails written will prepare me for Feline Bathing...

Anonymous said...

There's no freakin' way I'll try to give Max or Buddy a bath. I'd be going in for stitches if I did!

Anonymous said...

Bathing your cat? No way.

DawgDyke said...

I WISH my employees would do this; I'm certain a few have learned to come to me with more than one question after I've given them snotty short answers.

P.S. Two people guard the sides and throw the cat in the shower :)

Geeky Dragon Girl said...

This is so true! I don't know how many times I've sat down to compose a nicely detailed email to outline my dilemma, and in the process, the answer becomes clear to me. I save the email as a draft, and and end up never having to send it. Good tip.