This week was interesting at best. As opposed to what I’ve learned, I’ve taken more of an opinion in how I learn it. For example, I find myself preferring to prove that I can do something to skip learning it, since the proof is faster and easier. By proof, I mean showing my mentor how to do the task at hand. Of course, the quick tricks I learn (e.g. that https://my.stonybrook.edu redirects to the Stony Brook EPO) are welcome. Effectively, I’d rather learn something myself, on my own so it sticks (or have an instruction manual), versus being told. The act of doing it makes me remember what to do.

This method has its problems though—I still must say what I’ll do to my mentor in case I am wrong. This I like about mentoring: It is a method whereby you can learn in your own style without respect to formalities, at least till the end. The relief of pressure lets me feel safe about my decisions, knowing I have time to improve them.

Now for something much more important from this week: timing and memory. I do many things in a day and often jump between 3 or more within an hour. Being accustomed to this, I need a second system (web calendar) to help me track where I am. Unfortunately, this system is not perfect if not kept up to date, and can cause me to not be on track. Up until this week, I had an assertion that mostly correct is a good trade off to ensure each task is done well.

This assertion is incorrect.

I’ve learned this the hard way many times, and yet still think it true. However, recent events have shown me this is not the case, and I need to be more redundant in checking my plans for a day. Redundancy is good when used to detect errors, not a waste of time.