Growing up there were 3 things that helped me in school:
Being challenged
Keeping a full schedule
Teaching others
I always found myself doing better when there was a challenge; something that really made me question “why?” or “how?”. I couldn’t stand not knowing how something worked. If my peers caught onto something more quickly, I wanted to be sure I was right there behind them.
Adding to this, if there was a lull in my day, I could find myself being distracted. Don’t get me wrong: it’s good and healthy to take a break, to disconnect, to unwind. But I enjoyed going from one thing to the next to keep me focused. It didn’t really matter the activity, whether it was school, soccer, work, etc., anything to keep me tuned in.
Lastly, some of my teachers had recommended I helped some of the younger students with their work. This is when I really started to analyze how I approached things.
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
- Albert Einstein (maybe)
Once I was required to find ways to explain things to others I found myself better understanding the topic. During #TC18, Andy Kriebel gave a great talk during the Fanalytics session (webinar here). The talk began discussing the FT Visual Vocabulary and Andy’s desire to recreate it in Tableau as a means to learn chart types he hadn’t built before. He continues throughout the talk driving home several points, one of which was writing things down to reinforce his learning. I’m no different; none of us are.
This website is selfish at heart. Similar to a project management tool at work, this website adds some transparency to my life. It will motivate me to stay on top of things: participating in the various communities, sharing (seemingly novel!) discoveries or ideas, reviewing books, and continuing to learn things every day. Thanks for joining me on this journey and hope to connect with each of you along the way.
John Oliver, “Last Week Tonight”
