Don’t Understand? You’re About to Learn Something

  • One of the essential qualities of a DBA is wisdom.. calmness, soft skills, and a very good sense of humor. 🙂

  • Great way of thinking! 🙂 Will have to try change my mindset when I don't understand something.

  • I do feel that Western culture, for that is the one I know, misleads us into believing that learning is something that can be completed. My superficial understanding of a variety of Eastern thinking is that knowledge and understanding is improved over time but never really completely attained.

    In the West there are theologians and pius people who we understand it to be true for them but do not appear to apply it to ourselves. I believe that this can lead us to feel frustrated when we have something further to learn as we see it more of a failure of completion as opposed to a further positive step forward.

    Gaz

    -- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

  • mccree.michael (3/9/2015)


    Great way of thinking! 🙂 Will have to try change my mindset when I don't understand something.

    +1

    -------------------------------------------------------------
    we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us
    Don't fear failure, fear regret.

  • What a great perspective, thanks.

  • In software I do not have time to fully Grok.

  • I like the approach. I'll try to remember that with my children.

    "not understanding" is just "lack of knowledge" leaving the body.

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
    _______________________________________________
    I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
    SQL RNNR
    Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
    Learn Extended Events

  • Andy,

    Thank you for this post. My daughter has the same issue, mainly due to some poor teachers she has had. Your comments (advice) will help me help her far better.

    On topic though, this is great advice. Sometimes learning is easy, especially for some of us. Sometimes it is stressful. For me, it is usually easy, unless I am overwhelmed with work and don't have time to spend on getting up to speed. Then it is a matter of putting everything to the side while I spend the time I need to solidify my knowledge. The stress of knowing you are less productive, especially given our environment, makes those times very difficult.

    Dave

  • Gary, I don't any experience with Eastern culture, but what you say fits my impressions from what I've read about it here and there, I had not considered it as a cultural issue. That's interesting. Interesting to imagine a culture that embraces it and how to achieve that mindset, interesting to think about what might come out of that.

  • DJ, most of us in IT do pretty well at learning - maybe thats why we're here? We do a lot of incremental learning so its not often we're too far from our comfort zone. That's not wrong or bad, but definitely makes it easier to forget how hard starting at square one can be. I also have this idea that kids (and maybe young adults) are single threaded - the focus on the task and the not understanding seems to prevent any other message from getting through. Hope it helps even a little with the kids, school should be fun and its more fun when they are successful.

  • Nice post Andy. For me this also emphasises that when someone is put in a situation where they don't understand and they seem somewhat aggressive it may be that their frustration is more with themselves than the object of their aggression.

  • Thanks David. I think thats exactly right on aggression, and if we're on the receiving side and can turn off the primal urge to respond in kind, we might make some progress!

  • I know I get frustrated when a user is trying to tell me what is not working for them and I am not understanding what they need. The article just reminded me that is just another kind of knowledge I am trying to acquire.

  • Wait until you teach her how to drive! The ability of a good dad is the ability to adapt to your child's strengths and weaknesses. My first two kids were similar in style so I thought I had the parenting thing figured out. Wrong! #3 is challenging my wife and I in ways I never thought possible. I have to review the why's behind my how-to's and first level why's. Anyways we need to do some extra practice on car basics in an old Walmart as part of my new approach. I hope I can transfer this to other areas of parenting. 😎

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