Number 231 - July 2002

Mistakes Can Make You Stronger
by John MacGregor, BB&C Newsletter May 2002, Greater Victoria PC Users' Association
If you watch TV enough, you can believe that good guys never make mistakes. If you spend the same amount of time on your computer, you know full well that good guys make mistakes all the time. What separates the experts from the others is often the way they deal with the inevitable mistakes. Good guys approach them with a subtly different methodology. It's worth noting.     I've learned a lot at our clubhouse. We typically have a few experts there. Ron DeBeck and Ron Kehn come to mind immediately, but there are others too. Recently I watched one of them help a fellow member, and it brought back a flood of memories of when I was starting to play with computers twenty years ago. I went down the same wrong road. The key thing is this: Don't focus on what didn't work. Focus on what works.     The member being helped was upset about the computer not doing what she thought it should, and was focusing on that. The helper took a different approach and that flicked a switch for me. "Let me show you one way how to do it" he said. Then he showed her. Then he had her do the same steps over and over. She got it.     "But why didn't it work last time? I did everything right." The helper said cautiously, "It's best not to go too far down that road. If you can't figure out immediately why it didn't work, drop it and try to do what you want some other way. Getting it done is what counts. "     Those words punch above their weight. It's really good advice. We all make mistakes. The more time	you spend and the more different things you try, the more often you make mistakes. The key things are to get the job done and to learn as much as you can. If you focus on what doesn't work, you're not getting good returns on your investment of time. Focus on what works.     That way you'll get stronger, faster, with less effort. I dropped into the class learning [Microsoft] Office, which is taught by George Bowden. Office is a collection of large, powerful, popular programs: Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint at a minimum. Know those really well and you're welcome in any office in town. George tailors his class to the level of his students, and tries to cover areas his students want, which is something only a good teacher can do.     George is an expert at Office. Not many of us will get to his level. When he was asked to do something, he tried first one way, then another, then another until he finally got it. Fresh from the experience of seeing this approach demonstrated earlier, I had to speak up and say "Look at how someone really good goes at a problem. He doesn't try one way and if it doesn't work, gives up. He tries one way, then another and another. And he keeps going till he gets it."     Sometimes, in life, a simple mistake can ruin everything. In computers, thank God, that's almost never the case. Nietzsche's remark that "That which does not kill us can only make us stronger" makes a bit of sense to computer users. Well OK, it makes better sense, I'll grant you, if you've got a backup. But don't focus on a mistake in the past. Try this way, then that way, then another way, to get around it. When you get the solution, focus on that. Out of computer mistakes can come a rich kind of power. Enjoy it.
Number 231 - July 2002