I was just watching the video of Vasilios Syrakis (the guy which did the video “I was laid off by Atlassian”), in which he was giving some tips for Juniors, Interns and hopefuls, and one of the things he said struck me the most, and I believe I had already said something similar around here somewhere…
The thing is: watch, read and intake whatever kind of information you ought to understand a subject not once, not twice, or even thrice, but several times. In due time, things will click and the information will sink and then sediment itself into knowledge (grasps of interwoven and interconnected webs of information that glimpses into actual knowledge into the utility of stuff).
Knowledge, on my terms is actual interwoven and connected information that grabs some form of utility (don’t quote me on that, I’m not even remotely sure that it’s correct, but that’s how I view it). And so why is that even important in this case? (you carefully inquire me).
Oh, boy. I’m so glad you asked.
See, the trouble with the disguise of information is that we believe that we’ll often retain very much of it in one single pass, when that much isn’t really try. Of course, we would like it to be, because we have been partially conditioned with it by our prior education. How? you ask. Well, just think about all of the times that during school you were dissuaded of asking questions because other kids would look at you and consider you dumb for just not following along! And you accepted that you were acquiring information as an useful retainment of knowledge. You thought everyone else were geniuses, as much as you too, but reality is that they were just as clueless as you.
We were taught that not getting in the first try is a sign of weaknesses, or being plain outright dumb, and we didn’t like very much the consequences of it, the stigma of being slow, and so forth… So then what happanaed? Well, we all got inconclusive resolutions to the problems we were presented. We faked it. And we pushed it forward, over and over, thinking it was just about the grades and hoo boy how wrong were we.
It was never about the grades. Never. All it was, in actuality, was about the synapses and processes in our brains, that we’ve gotten wired together and learned that hey, seeing something once, I already know it! but that was merely a balantl lie.
But now, you’ve grown up, and suddenly, you find yourself in situations that information and the amounts of it is just so overwhelming and you find yourself dissuaded to grasp such knowledge, and most of it is because of that prior conditionment. One pass would be equal to sure knowledge. How fool of you. Still clinging to that old rusty concept.
Conceit.
You see, as long as we would like to admit that we are bright people, we are actually pretty dumb. And the faster we start accepting that, the better it is for us because then we would have the capacity to recognize that change is needed and also possible. That there is a gradative process of overcoming.
And how? For once, thrice is the charm. More particularly, I see it as this: First time: you just get a glimpse on whatever the hell that thing is. Do not expect to understand it right away, or you’ll get frustrated. That is when you first form a familiar connection, like so:
o —– [ A ]
Where o is: you. And A is: any kind of subject.
It is a weak link.
So what do you do?
You go a second pass: you watch it again. You read it again. And at that moment, you start noticing things which weren’t really clear before. Well, let’s all be honest here folks! The book will not just grow legs and start bouncing around here and there, or the videos will not suddenly vanish, you can always rewatch them later (or we believe we can, that’s why I always download a backup if I find the video worth it).
The thing is: you can come back to it. No need for shame. There’s no one there anymore watching you for your dumb mistakes and questions. It’s okay to ask them here. You’re safe. After all, it is just you together with your own future you that will thank you later for slowing the fuck down a bit.
Then, at this second pass, you can also take notice of what is it that you didn’t for real understand, and mark that shit. You will worry about it later, not now. For now, just let more information sink in, what wasn’t really clear at first.
Then, there comes the third pass. This pass is where things get interesting and maybe we can allow ourselves to go a little bit deeper into subject matters that don’t quite seem fitting. And maybe that shows a gap in your potential knowledge ( but that soon will be resolved too ). You can go back to specific portions of the material which you are now sure that you didn’t quite understand and revisit them more thoroughly, inquiry them, and expand a bit on the topics. Zoom out if you will.
You do it thrice. And if that is still not enough, well, you can still do it as much as you want, but at this point I would recommend you to take a break, maybe a few hours or even some days (if possible) and then later come back and revisit it.
What just happened?
First pass: o —- A
Second pass: o—> a o—> A
Third pass: o—> a o—> A o—> æ
You see, each new pass brings something new that compliments the first one. Each new pas is actually new information somehow (because it now compounds with the previous information you already had).
So then, with this setup, there’s no shame, there’s no guilt, at most, just happy accidents. And then, with due time (and less panic) you’re good to go.
I used this in a similar fashion when I was trying to understand AWS MSK Brokers and configurations for the first time. I had never setup one of those in my life, and I watched the tutorial videos some 4 times. The first pass, it was cryptic. The second one, more familiar. The third one, I could spot something that I clearly would have to revise later. The fourth, I had revised and now could have a good grasp on what the actual workflow was like.
All it took me was 4 attempts.
Maybe yours is gonna take a little bit longer, a little bit less, but eventually, it will click. You just need to give enough time. And for fuck’s sake, stop even comparing yourself with everyone else that already has years of experience.
Don’t you see that that’s one of the difference between you both? The bro has YEARS of experience, and soon enought you will too! If you just give it enought time and have a little patience.
Stop trying to rush things, people.
Take your time.
Information will still be there tomorrow, and you can still access it.
Go slow, go steady.
That’s me for today.
Out.
Paece.