August 2017 – Grandpa Bob Encouraging Leadership

The Power of Repetition

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party…and other drills.

We’re each born without skills.

We don’t know how to play the piano, hit a tennis ball, type a letter, program a computer, balance a checkbook, climb a mountain, drive a car, wake surf, back up a semi-trailer, finish concrete, ride a bike, race a motorcycle, fix an engine, pilot an airplane, or just about anything else.

Fortunately, humans are learning machines. Watch a toddler for even a few minutes and you’ll see an aggressive and insatiable quest to imitate, experiment, test limits, check for patterns, see what works, see what parents allow, and see what happens when they push certain buttons (real and metaphorical). Amazingly, they’re doing these things before they can walk or talk.

Toddlers also have an almost unending desire to “do it again.” If throwing the ball once is fun, it’s even more fun to go pick it up and throw it again, and again, and again.

I took a typing class in my freshman year of high school. There were about fifty students in the class. Half of the typewriters were electric (the new IBM Selectrics) and the other half was manual typewriters. Yes, I’m that old.

I started my year on a manual typewriter (we swapped to the Selectrics mid-year). This meant that at the end of each line, after hearing the ding, I had to reach up and manually return the carriage…and place my fingers back on the correct keys to continue typing. It also meant that my keystrokes had to be smooth, consistent and well-timed. Otherwise, the keys would jam on top of each other.

We started with the Home row. I must have typed ASDFJKL; a thousand times! Then, we added the G and the H to the home row drill. ASDFGHJKL; Again. Again. Again. Ding. Manual carriage return.

Did I mention that all the keys on the typewriters were blank? We were learning how to be “touch” typists. Looking at the keys was not an option. We had diagrams and workbooks that showed us what each key was, but nothing on the typewriter.

After mastering the Home row, we moved up to the QWERTY row. The row that gives the standard keyboard its name. QWERTYUIOP Again. Again. Again. Again.

Next, the drills included the Home row and the QWERTY row at the same time. We were typing letters in random order from both rows. QPJHFDRT Again. Again. Again. Ding. Manual carriage return.

Finally, we moved to the dreaded bottom row. ZXCVBNM,. I hated the Z. The Z is in an awkward spot. It requires pinky strength and dexterity in the left hand. A tall order for a right-hander. A right-hander who had broken his left pinky a few years earlier (another long story).

Now our drills included all three rows, and all in random order.

Oh yeah, every drill was being timed. We started and stopped each drill as a class and typed the drills until we heard the ringing of the clock.

The drills got harder, included more randomness, and both upper-, and lower-case letters. Again. Again. Again.

I don’t remember how many weeks we spent on all these drills, but one day our teacher told us we’d be typing actual sentences. One more thing: our typing speed would be measured in words-per-minute.

Any mistakes would subtract one word from our score, so accuracy mattered.

How could this be? We’d never typed sentences before. We weren’t ready to be tested…on real sentences. We were just getting good at the drills. We had practiced proper hand position, proper finger curl, proper posture. But, this was uncharted territory.

“Ready? Begin.”

“Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.”

“The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.”

Why do I remember these two sentences? They’re classic typing drill sentences. They each use almost all the letters in the alphabet and require the typist to jump between all the rows. I typed these two sentences continuously during the day of our first typing test.

I realized I was actually typing! Not just a drill, but two real sentences. I was typing them quickly…even on a manual typewriter.

After that first day of testing, we typed many more sentences. We learned about the structure of various business letter formats. We typed information into practice forms. We keyed numbers into columns. We centered text. All before spreadsheets or word processors made these simple tasks.

Our teacher provided the drills, the structure, and the discipline. We drilled, practiced, and drilled again. And, again.

We were touch typists, using the skills we learned through repetition. I was having my own “Wax on…wax off,” moment before Karate Kid was a movie.

Fast forward 35 years. I’m still learning new skills. Practicing. Making mistakes. Sometimes pushing too hard. Sometimes jamming my keys in the process. Always looking to improve.

Only with repetition can I learn, improve, and become.

Again. And, again.

Photo by Jason Yu on Unsplash

Lessons from SpaceTeam!

Do the commands have any rhyme or reason? Does it really matter? This is a crisis!

I’ve never been much of a gamer. The idea of more computer time at night, after spending an entire work day on a computer has little appeal for me.

Until I saw, or more accurately, heard, SpaceTeam. My little cousins were gathered in a circle, yelling out commands to each other, swiping their devices, and pushing toward the elusive goal of HYPERSPACE.

Set the Duotronic Capacitor to 2!

They’re all on a malfunctioning spaceship, attempting to escape from a black hole. The only way they will survive is to work together.

It’s called a collaborative shouting game for phones and tablets.

Commands whiz across each players’ device, but here’s the tricky part: their fellow players are the only ones who can carry out those commands. And, there’s a time crunch since the black hole is pulling at the ship the entire time!

Calibrate the Hypersonic Thrusters to 3!

Each player has to see their own commands, yell out those commands for their fellow players to execute, and also be listening to the other players’ commands that they can execute on their device.

Disengage the Warp Transponders!

As I watched them play, I thought the game looked like a fun way to practice reading, and learn about team work…and have some fun.

Then, they asked me to play.

My first thought was, “I’m not much of a gamer. I probably have something else I should be doing.” But, when do I get an opportunity to play a game with my cousins (who range in age from 5 to 11 years old)…especially where they’re teaching me how to play.

Remember to remove the slime!

Did I mention the slime? As the game progresses, minor problems start to impact your device. The game controls come unhinged and swing on the screen. Slime oozes across the controls. The slime can be cleared by swiping it away, but that distracts from reading your commands. It also distracts from hearing your teammates’ commands and executing them as quickly as possible.

This game is a lot harder than it looks! Like most things in life, spectating is much easier than playing.

Set the Flux Beam to 2!

Luckily, my team is strong and capable. While I’m distracted with slime and repairing my control screen, they’re executing commands flawlessly. I can hear the patience in their voices as they repeat their commands. A sense of calm hovers over us amidst the yelling of commands. We just might make it to HYPERSPACE!

Disengage the Tripolimer Conduits!

Do the commands have any rhyme or reason? Does it really matter? This is a crisis! We don’t have time! Our survival is at stake!

Sci-fi fans will recognize many of the words, but that won’t help you. Your ability to quiet your mind, focus on your screen, and listen to your teammates will determine your success. That and your teammates’ ability to do the same thing.

You win as a team and lose as a team. Sound familiar?

If one player is weaker than the others, it’s up to the team to deal with it by executing what they can as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Deploy the Solar Sail!

Do you work with and trust others to achieve your goals?

Do you find a sense of calm and confidence when relying on your teammates to perform?

Are you dealing with “slime” in your life as you work to achieve your goals?

Are you called upon to deliver results without enough time, even when things are a little chaotic and difficult?

Do you allow yourself to be lifted-up by your team when you fall short of their expectations?

SpaceTeam will give you practice on all of these questions…and it’s lots of fun!

HYPERSPACE!

How’d we do? I’m pretty sure I was the weak link. We made it to HYPERSPACE anyway. It pays to be on a strong team! We didn’t get to play a second round because the evil Schedule Monster emerged from the shadows to remind us about the event we were attending.

I look forward to playing again!

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Every Job Has a Suck Ratio (along with everything else)

It’s hard to see the suck from the outside…

Nearly every pursuit in life has some portion that sucks. This is especially true for jobs.

It may be a short “phase” at the beginning caused by your lack of knowledge or experience. “I have no idea what I’m doing, so every day is torture! I can’t wait until I get the hang of this new job.”

It may be a valuable sacrifice required to fully embrace the benefits of a new opportunity. “The position is exactly what I’m looking for. The only problem is the 90-minute commute…each way.”

Maybe there’s 1% you don’t like that comes along with 99% you love. “This company is amazing! I wish the people I work with would realize it.”

What if the suck is more than 1%?

What if it’s 30% of the experience? 80% of the experience?

The ratio of suck versus awesome determines happiness. As the suck goes up, happiness goes down.

Humans are more sensitive to the suck than the awesome. We thrive on the negative. Bad news travels fastest. We assume and discount good news, so we don’t put much effort into spreading it…even to ourselves.

Measuring the suck is arbitrary and subjective. Something that sucked only 1% last week may suck 95% today when that 90-minute commute causes you to miss your daughter’s award ceremony.

Are you considering a job change? Just thinking about it means you’ve decided that the suck ratio is getting too high in your current job. So, a new opportunity or a new direction seems like a good idea.

The new opportunities have their own suck, whether you choose to see it or not. Sure, they have things you appreciate, but it’s easy to overvalue the good stuff and minimize the parts that suck.

It’s human nature to see only the “good” stuff that’s happening over there…and see only the things that suck, happening here.

The grass usually isn’t greener over there (wherever “there” is). It’s usually just another shade of green that looks greener today. The suck ratio is in play over there just as much as it is where you’re standing.

Does this mean we should never change jobs or career paths? Hardly. But, it’s important to keep some things in mind:

Every job has a suck ratio.

It’ll take a lot longer than you think to get good at your new job. Even longer before you become great at it. Until then, it’s suck ratio will be higher than you like.