Thursday 29 March 2012
Songs
Sometimes when I feel sad, depressed, grumpy, I would listen to happy music to cheer me up and get me going.
Friday 16 March 2012
Staying motivated in learning new skills
Staying motivated in learning new skills
by Maria O'Daniel
NEW STRAITS TIMES
Thursday 31 July 1997
COMPUTIMES PAGE 47
LAB REPORT Technology
One of the hardest things to do when preparing to learn a new skill, is to motivate yourself. The next most difficult thing is to stay motivated. Today we'll focus on how to keep up the energy you need to learn and keep learning new things. Motivation depends heavily on the situation you find yourself in. I'll be discussing which strategies work for me - I hope they work for you too. I am assuming that you have the correct background for the course, and that motivation is your only problem.
Gearing yourself up to learn
Let's say that you've been asked to learn to use something which is virtually obsolote and quite probably useless to your career. As an example, let's say that the human resources department manager has just decided that it would be useful if you learned to use an ancient word processing package still in use at the office in case the resident "expert" leaves suddenly. All your arguments have failed and you are forced to attend in-house courses for three hours a week for three months. First of all, look for something good to focus on. As a general rule you can try focusing on the fact that any skill is useful. In this case, there might be another company around with the same ancient software. Second, learning itself is a skill. Even if the skill itself is useless, this might be an opportunity for you to try out a new learning technique. Third, no one learns in a vacuum. You will at some point talk to someone new about this new skill - even if it is only someone at the ancient word processing package help-line. Networking is always useful. Fourth, if the resident expert does leave, you might become more useful to your company and then you can ask for a salary increase.
Continuing despite difficulties:
When you have seen all the advantages associated with learning new skills, it can still be really disappointing to discover that not only does learning require time and effort, but it can also be much more difficult than first imagined. By the time you find this out, you may just be browsing through the promotional material or be one-third through the course. At the first sign of lessening motivation, follow through these steps. First, write down all the reasons you were happy to start learning this new skill. Read them twice a day. Second, try to see if you are doing something wrong. Are you approaching the subject in a proper manner? Are you spending enough regular time on it, instead of cramming once a week? Divide the course into milestones. This may make the whole course seem more manageable. Third, if possible, ask for help from someone who has completed the course. Perhaps there is a "difficult patch" everyone goes through. Fourth, tell your learning advisor how you feel and ask for help. If you are studying without a learning advisor, it may be time to find one. Learning in a group can be more motivating than working alone. Above all - don't give up! Remember that you have already learned some useful things. Every learning experience has its ups and downs, just stick with it and struggle on. It is more difficult to start learning a skill the second time around.
Fire-fighting:
If things become very tough and before you give up completely, write yourself a list. Fold a piece of paper into two. Mark the sections: positive and negative. Write down your expectations, divided into positive and negative.Highlight the positive predictions which came true with one colour and the negative predictions which came true with another. Now analyse what you see. On the whole were your expectations positive or negative? If they were negative, go back and read the paragraph on gearing yourself up to learn and see if you can motivate yourself. If they were positive then look at how many predictions have come true. Have you had more negative results than positive? If so, try and discover why. If you have seen more positive results than negative ones, then perhaps you are struggling through a difficult stage in the learning curve. Focus on the positive side for more motivation. Finally, try the carrot and stick approach on yourself. Promise yourself treats for good work and remind yourself that there's no gain without pain.
___________________________________
The writer is a product developer and Internet
researcher. Readers can send their queries to
mariaod@ace.cdc.abu.com
by Maria O'Daniel
NEW STRAITS TIMES
Thursday 31 July 1997
COMPUTIMES PAGE 47
LAB REPORT Technology
One of the hardest things to do when preparing to learn a new skill, is to motivate yourself. The next most difficult thing is to stay motivated. Today we'll focus on how to keep up the energy you need to learn and keep learning new things. Motivation depends heavily on the situation you find yourself in. I'll be discussing which strategies work for me - I hope they work for you too. I am assuming that you have the correct background for the course, and that motivation is your only problem.
Gearing yourself up to learn
Let's say that you've been asked to learn to use something which is virtually obsolote and quite probably useless to your career. As an example, let's say that the human resources department manager has just decided that it would be useful if you learned to use an ancient word processing package still in use at the office in case the resident "expert" leaves suddenly. All your arguments have failed and you are forced to attend in-house courses for three hours a week for three months. First of all, look for something good to focus on. As a general rule you can try focusing on the fact that any skill is useful. In this case, there might be another company around with the same ancient software. Second, learning itself is a skill. Even if the skill itself is useless, this might be an opportunity for you to try out a new learning technique. Third, no one learns in a vacuum. You will at some point talk to someone new about this new skill - even if it is only someone at the ancient word processing package help-line. Networking is always useful. Fourth, if the resident expert does leave, you might become more useful to your company and then you can ask for a salary increase.
Continuing despite difficulties:
When you have seen all the advantages associated with learning new skills, it can still be really disappointing to discover that not only does learning require time and effort, but it can also be much more difficult than first imagined. By the time you find this out, you may just be browsing through the promotional material or be one-third through the course. At the first sign of lessening motivation, follow through these steps. First, write down all the reasons you were happy to start learning this new skill. Read them twice a day. Second, try to see if you are doing something wrong. Are you approaching the subject in a proper manner? Are you spending enough regular time on it, instead of cramming once a week? Divide the course into milestones. This may make the whole course seem more manageable. Third, if possible, ask for help from someone who has completed the course. Perhaps there is a "difficult patch" everyone goes through. Fourth, tell your learning advisor how you feel and ask for help. If you are studying without a learning advisor, it may be time to find one. Learning in a group can be more motivating than working alone. Above all - don't give up! Remember that you have already learned some useful things. Every learning experience has its ups and downs, just stick with it and struggle on. It is more difficult to start learning a skill the second time around.
Fire-fighting:
If things become very tough and before you give up completely, write yourself a list. Fold a piece of paper into two. Mark the sections: positive and negative. Write down your expectations, divided into positive and negative.Highlight the positive predictions which came true with one colour and the negative predictions which came true with another. Now analyse what you see. On the whole were your expectations positive or negative? If they were negative, go back and read the paragraph on gearing yourself up to learn and see if you can motivate yourself. If they were positive then look at how many predictions have come true. Have you had more negative results than positive? If so, try and discover why. If you have seen more positive results than negative ones, then perhaps you are struggling through a difficult stage in the learning curve. Focus on the positive side for more motivation. Finally, try the carrot and stick approach on yourself. Promise yourself treats for good work and remind yourself that there's no gain without pain.
___________________________________
The writer is a product developer and Internet
researcher. Readers can send their queries to
mariaod@ace.cdc.abu.com
Tuesday 13 March 2012
Certificate in Electrical Engineering (Electronics and Telecommunications)
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| Certificate in Electrical Engineering (Electronics and Telecommunications). This Certificate is equivalent to the British Ordinary National Diploma |
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