If you read my blogs, in any of the options, you’ll know that I am doing loads of new stuff at the moment and the only thing they have is common is that they are all taking me outside my comfort zone (see https://www.ebn.uk.com/blog/?p=211). In fact, it’s gotten to the point where I have a “Frogs to eat” list! (Thank you Mark Twain.)
Lots of people have helped me, both real people and YouTube experts. All have different specialisms, but all seem to have three things in common. They
- all know their stuff and are clear about what they don’t know,
- are happy to share their knowledge,
- all use the word ‘just’ when telling me stuff, as in “You just click on that”.
Now this may be just me being a bit paranoid, but it seems that when I “Just click on that” the same thing that happened when they “Just clicked on that” doesn’t happen. It might be that the recording is old, and the information is out of date, or it may just be the technology fairies messing with me. Either way it doesn’t end well.
During a recent sleepless night, when the frog list wouldn’t let me settle into my snuggly pillow, I suddenly realised that it wasn’t the frog list that was worrying me, it was the word ‘just’. Because when an expert says “Just do this” they are basing this on years, if not decades, of knowledge, of doing that thing. So ‘just’ to me means possibly hours of head scratching, pencil chewing and hair pulling…and of course dreaming of frog lists.
So, I have learnt three things:
- when a real someone says “just…” I suppress the urge to weep, and I ask them for clarification,
- when a virtual someone says “just…” I suppress the urge to weep and click to another person,
- when I hear myself saying “Just…” I ask if they understand what needs doing.
My question to you, therefore, is—is this just me?
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Have fun!
