2016 Winter February 27 Saturday

48 degrees this morning, walk 34:27 minutes

Walk time was much faster this morning.  I have been thinking back to see if I missed any of my route, but I actually added a little to it.  

Sometimes I have found that to happen, for some reason, whether it is exercise or any type of project you are working on, (including weight loss, working on learning something etc.), at some point you make an unexpected substantial advancement.

Of course, the fact that that rate of advancement is unsustainable can be discouraging.  However, in the case of my walk, where I don’t really care what my time is (except that I want to keep track of it for whatever reason), I just look at it with interest, but also hope I don’t fall back.

My time normally gets faster as Spring/Summer approaches and my walking clothes get lighter, but I am basically wearing my winter clothes.  

I have found that the sudden increase in learning/comprehension is true in learning computer programs etc.  It is like you don’t understand, and then suddenly you understand and you wonder how you never didn’t understand, it is so simple!

Perhaps it is a lack of patience, but I don’t learn a lot from videos, unless it is strictly a “show and tell” video.  I really never have picked up on watching videos  (other than music videos), whether it is news or anything else.  I just don’t have the patience and they usually move too slow, not  even counting the advertisements that are normally in front of them.

Learning is an ability, or perhaps a skill, and it is difficult to determine what helps us learn.  I actually learn in a lot of different ways, sometimes by “doing”, sometimes by  reading, sometimes just by learning from mistakes and failure.  

I think it is quite a bit of difference depending on the situation with the “desire” (as well as the capacity) to learn that is the most important.

Probably that is what makes school learning so difficult, it you aren’t really interested you aren’t going to learn, but if you are interested you will learn faster.  

I know some things I see or read once and I remember it, other things I may never learn.  

“What make someone learn” has certainly spawned a lot of businesses, books (and yes, I am sure, videos) and  I am sure any teacher would love to find the answer to “what makes someone learn”.  

 I think, other than interest, the biggest factor in me learning (me personally) is whether I use something.  

For example, I have computer programs that may sit around for years and then suddenly I learn them because I absolutely have to or want to, so I can accomplish something.

One example sticks in my mine.  Years ago, Excel was on my computer but in spite of forays into learning it, I never really learned it.  

Suddenly I had to produce a City budget.  I was able to learn Excel almost overnight when I had to use it and had a use for it!  Ditto for Powerpoint (although I used the Apple version of it called “Keynote”), switching from WordPerfect to Office, web page development etc.  

Somehow in all of this, I still struggle with “Evernote”.  I have development my knowledge and use of it where it is helpful, but I still, after years, don’t use it to evan a small portion of its potential.

I think it is almost like anything else that I learn now, I learn what I have to use.  

Tune 678 of 6,544 on my “original iPod”, “you can’t always get what you want” (but  if you try sometime, you might find you get what you need).  

That’s it for now, Saturday, February 27, 2016.