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Transcript
Are you always learning?
Hi, everyone. Leo Notenboom here for askleo.com. I was challenged this morning, actually, to think a little bit about what one word might characterize my career, my path, my work, my life, what I do. And it was an interesting exercise, because it’s something that I’ve thought of at least in concept for a long time.
Literally, for decades. One conclusion I came to is I’m not sure that I can encapsulate it in one word. It’s looking like it’s more of a phrase than anything else, but it’s a good exercise to go through, because as it turns out, it really has affected many of the decisions in my career and in what I’ve chosen to do today.
As I matured as an engineer at Microsoft, one of the things that I was very fortunate, actually to be able to take advantage of while I was there was the flexibility to have several different positions over my 18-year career there. And it didn’t take long for me to realize that there were a couple of things that really impacted whether or not I would enjoy a particular position, or whether or not it would turn out to be something really painful.
The first, not relevant to what we’re talking about today, was who I worked for. The person that I would be working with, but the second most important thing, and actually the thing that I would use as I was looking at opportunities around the company, was simply: What would I learn? What would this opportunity bring me that I didn’t already have – that I hadn’t already done? What new things would walk away from that opportunity with if I took it?
And I have to say that those two things in particular, really helped form my career at Microsoft and my career thereafter now that I think about it. Now, you might think that Ask Leo! hasn’t really done that much. I mean it’s the same thing I’ve been doing for 13 years. I’ve been answering your questions; basically, some of my stock answers are the very same answers that I’ve been giving for 13 years, because indeed, I do get many of the same questions over and over and over again.
But in reality, when you take a look at the things we’re talking about, for example, well technology is always changing. There’s always something new to be learned. There’s always something new on the horizon. What I’m doing today even, just recording this video for you is not something that was anywhere close to the radar 13 years ago.
No only is the technology we’re talking about, changing, but technology that I’m using is changing. Like I said, the video that I’m doing is not something I could have done 13 years ago. Things like YouTube, for example, either weren’t around or they were just starting. I do remember way back in the day when they were just starting, complaining that the resolution that they offered simply wasn’t good enough for me to do good screen capture for me to be able to show you things clearly on an online video. Of course, that’s all changed. It’s something that everybody can do very easily today.
The number of things that I can do, the ways that I can do them, the ways that I construct my website, the way that I interact with all of you, they’ve all changed. They’re all things that I’ve learned from and changed and grown from over these last 13 years. All in the guise of answering your questions.
So, it’s a really interesting position to be doing kind of the same thing for 13 years, and yet having so many wonderful opportunities to learn as I go along. One of my mottos, if you will, is that everything’s an experiment. Literally, everything I do, be it recording videos, be it writing articles, I’m always playing with something. I’m always wanting to tweak something; to try things out; to see how they work; to see if I can do things better.
This video right now that you’re watching is a wonderful example of that. It’s been a while but theoretically, when I produce this video it will be one of the first ones I’ve done with two camera angles. There’s the one in front of me, of course, but then there’s the one here off to the side where I’ve got a second camera running.
Not all experiments work. That’s why I call it an experiment. I originally had the two cameras set up last week when I did my video for Patreon. What I learned was that camera didn’t like the memory card that I installed, and in fact, failed silently. It actually went through the process of recording the entire video and gave me nothing.
Lesson learned – put in the right memory card, and the camera will work properly – we hope. If you’re seeing two angles on this video, then it did. Similarly, by now you may know that I’m planning on traveling overseas next week. When I do so, there are plenty of opportunities for me to learn different things about how technology will or will not work for me that will hopefully mirror, or at least, give me an insight into a lot of the problems that many of my readers, many of the people coming to me are facing on a semi-regular basis.
Maybe I’ll come up with some answers that we hadn’t thought about yet that will allow us to help more people with some of the problems that they face when they travel. It’s another grand experiment. I’m not going to do the experiment, but as I travel for whatever reason, those are the kinds of things I play with; those are the kinds of experiments I run, and to be honest, that’s the kind of fun.
That’s to me – that really makes technology and what I do for a living so interesting and so much fun because of all of these unknowns, all these things that are always coming up, always these opportunities to be learning something.
And if I had to narrow it down to one word: Learn. Learning. Or always learning, I suppose, which is why you can see it sounds better as a phrase. Always learning. I want to focus on, I’m trying to always be learning with what I do every day.
It’s driven not just my career at Microsoft but my career post-Microsoft. It’s really been part of making Ask Leo! a lot of fun for me. And it’s one of the things that I’ve mentioned people before that not only is there no shortage of questions about technology but there’s always something new. There’s always something interesting; there’s always something to learn and that’s where I get my kicks and that’s what I enjoy. That’s why I’m having fun doing what I’m doing.
I do want to share that this question was prompted by a video I watched this morning while I was on my elliptical. Again, something else that I creating wouldn’t have done 13 years ago (not the elliptical part. I was exercising for sure) but watching YouTube while I was doing that. Well, Evan Carmichael, he has posted a series of videos on a number of topics but this particular one was about the release or the upcoming release of a book he’s writing called Your One Word which basically focuses on this topic as a personal and business growth strategy. I have not read the book. I can’t recommend it because I haven’t read it but the concept got me interested enough to really be thinking about it because it dovetailed on to something that I’ve been thinking about already for a long time.
So, I’ll leave links for that video and that book or his promotion page for that book in case you’re interested. It looks like it will be interesting. I did, in fact, pre-order it so we’ll see what happens. But it’s one of those things to think about and thus my question for you, “Do you have one word or a phrase that sums up, I don’t know, your life, your career, your hobby, your favorite projects, whatever? Is there a word that you would use to characterize who you are and/or what you do?” I’d love to hear it.
Share it in the comments below. As always, here’s a link to this video posted on askleo.com. That’s where all the magic happens. That’s where I read all of the comments; that’s where the comments are moderated so we keep the trolls out. I’d love to hear what you think; I’d love to hear your ideas. I think we will all learn something interesting today. So, with that, as always, have fun, stay safe, take care and I’ll see you again next week. And … ha ha … don’t forget to back up! See ya!
♥
Hey, if you found this video valuable, I could use your support. Visit patreon.com/askleo and pledge a couple of bucks a month or more depending on what kind of a reward you like. Yep, there’s rewards associated with it and what it will allow me to do is to focus on creating more valuable content like the video you just saw. Regardless of whether you do or not, thanks again for watching. I’m Leo Notenboom for askleo.com.
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One Word ? No need for it to be a known word is there ? No – so how about—-
acecompexplanatorist
There have been times, many of them, when only your explanations have saved my sanity and my work and from which I have learnt a lot more.
Thanks Leo. Don’t give up and Never Give in.
I wouldn’t even know how to begin to pronounce that! (But thanks! :-) ).
One word? “Techno-Therapist”. If you think about it, most Therapists (at least the few I’ve met) went through their own therapy, where they worked through whatever emotional issues that had plagued them. As a result, they were drawn to use what they learned to help others. And they are good at it because they had experiences similar to their clients. In my experiences with technology, it’s not necessarily the Microsoft Trained Tech who has been the most help to me. But rather it’s the guy/gal who has run into similar problems and discovered one or more solutions.
Openmindedskepticism. That’s my word. :D
And since you mentioned it in the video — My impression of the side-angle camera shots is that they’re distracting. Visually they only make sense when there is an interviewer present. Just my 2 cents… As always I appreciate your content and your spirit of experimentation.
I will always remember a comment from a classmate, when we graduated from college many years ago. After he got his diploma. He commented “ I finally reached the point where I don’t have to learn anything anymore”.
I replied to him that the primary purpose of a formal education was to teach us how to learn, and continue learning.
In my early school years. We had the three R’s, reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic ( some spelling license was taken).
For years, I’ve preached the three L’s for seniors – Laughing, Loving, and Learning. It is unfortunate that most seniors don’t want the last “L”, which is a mistake.
I feel that “Learning” is as important now as it always has been. I’m 90, and every day, I make sure I learn something, usually more than one thing. And I try to convince others how important that is.
If you don’t learn something every day, maybe you shouldn’t have bothered getting up.
My One Word – Curious. My grandpa told me, back when I was but a lad, “Pat, you’d take apart a concrete block to see what makes it tick.” I replied, “Grandpa, if it’s ticking, I want to know why.”
One Word: “Geek” And proudly so. :-)
The two camera setup is good, but I recommend you turn to the camera that’s recording. With the side shot, it’s disconcerting to see you talking to somebody else.
My “one word” is a simple phrase that everyone understands during conversation and pretty much tells them what and how I feel on some subject. That phrase is “Frankly……….Scarlott”. They just automatically finish the sentence for me and laugh. You made a very fine post and video Brother Leo.
The phrase that I use is: “Keep Moving.” I think of it as Keep Moving Forward. It applies to all that I do. Whether it by my role as instructor (which requires learning on an almost daily basis), or my desire to remain healthy. Even to my technology needs. Do I back up? Yes! I have 4 internal drives in my PC, 1 a 1T SSD and 3, 4T hard drives. All backed up to 4 external drives. I have had too many HD failures over the years, and learned he lesson the hard way. No more!
Thanks for all you do, I enjoy reading your answers and watching your videos. There is always something new to learn.
I think any comment I make after the others would be superfluous, but thank you Leo, for sharing your thoughts with us.
What Leo does is sustainable on virtually every level: Socially, economically, et al, etc. times anything educationally conceivable found by, through, on, or of a computer (or computing device, and I know I’m leaving Leo short on even more things sustainably affected by him in positive ways). So, my phrase is “Vegan for Life”, because it is my top sustainable action (nutritionfacts.org helps); and only positive, sustainable actions will preserve a world for kids.
I think that I would us the same phrase “always learning” as my lifelong summation of one of my characteristics. I really enjoyed the video and your thoughts.
The single word most important to me as to how I plan, decide, and act is “skeptical”. (“Curious” is a close second.) Hardly a day goes by that I don’t receive emails – too many from those who should know better – that are obviously untrue and patently absurd. In this age of immediately-accessible information, why anyone with an ounce of curiosity or skepticism would send me such garbage is a reflection of their intelligence and an insult to mine. Even sadder is that they get quite defensive if you point out the error(s). No “thank you for setting me straight” from them – they’d rather remain ignorant.
My one word is: Learning! My Grandfather, Wm T. Harms, sat me on his lap and we paged through “Popular Mechanics” back in the ’30’s. That started my life long love of learning. Over the years, I have realize that I am happiest when I am learning something new. And that is just the way it is. Thanks Leo for all the new things I have learned about computers.
A few dayas ago I remembered your blog about how you would describe yourself. Well I am solving problems, whatever. And then I remembered the teacher of my 10 years old sister at that time, some 60 years ago, who told me, she never bebore met someone like me, who collected methods to solve problems. At that time I thought it to be just normal behaviour. To say it in one word, I would not know.
My word is “explore.” I am totally blind so access the computer via a screen reader. A screen reader is a program which conveys screen content through synthesized speech, and the screen reader I use is JAWS. It is amazing and, at times, frustrating, how JAWS interacts, or fails to interact, with my applications. When JAWS can or does not read something, the content is “gone” … to me. I always have to remember this when facing computer issues.