Grahambles

These last few weeks have been something else. Having kids stretches you in a way that nothing else does. And twins is a step beyond that.

I’ll have a post in a few days about some things I’ve learned in the last few months.

But mostly, I’ve realized that holding a bottle for a few hours a day gives you lots of time to think. And I wanted to jot some of those thoughts down.

Plus, I’ve realized the most perfect name for this blog… Grahambles.

Well, because that’s what these are. Public rambles as I clarify my thinking.

Sorry if I broke the old links, but this name will stick. It fits the medium.

Here are some thoughts I had recently, with a little exposition.

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When you stop paying attention, you stop learning.

All learning is contextual. It depends on the situation. That’s because no two events are ever the same. The same action in a different situation is a different action.

As they say, no man enters the same river twice. Both he and the water change.

Skill development is pattern recognition. We do a similar action countless times to find the signal amongst the noise. Though each time is different, a meta pattern emerges.

That means learning happens when we focus less on the ideal and more on the problem at hand. After seeing enough similar problems, we create a pattern.

But that pattern isn’t rote repetition. It’s not memorization. t’s paying attention by being present. When you start going through the motions, you stop learning.

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Pride is the enemy of learning.

You can’t learn what you already know. Or, as is most often the case, what you think you already know. You have to pay attention to see a thing clearly.

Pride is another way of saying you have a fixed perspective. Which also means your perception is stuck.

It’s like looking at the world through a telescope that won’t budge. On occasion, things may wander in front of your lens. On occasion you’ll see things.

But by and large, you’ll miss all the things you can’t see..

Learning requires flexibility to see a problem from all angles. Pride is a stiff posture that protects the ego. Humility is the willingness to bend.

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Something doesn’t become more true just because you understand it.

There is an infinite amount of things we don’t know. And once we uncover some new piece of truth, it suddenly rings out with a profound sense of importance.

We feel a conviction to speak on this truth and tell everyone else. But that thing was true long before it was true to us.

This works both ways… Just because you don’t understand something does not mean it’s false. Our tendency to shut out complexity doesn’t change the nature of a thing.

There are things that are true that you don’t understand yet. They were always true and will always be so.

The only thing keeping you from knowing that is your ego.