Many of my post-employment blog posts have revolved around my Chinese studies and how they have challenged one of my weakest capabilities (language). Today was one my worst days. And the second toughest was on Friday of last week, when I walked out of class an hour early. The last week has not gone well for me. It briefly passed my mind to consider quitting class today and instead spend my time on another project. But I remembered previous advice I shared here. I think I am now back on track.
I recognized in early June that I would have good and bad days. Our mind tends to project the future based on our most recent experiences. From one catastrophic day we are blinded from seeing two months of success. In trying to see the big picture, I am reminded of a humbling, true and somewhat funny witticism: no matter how amazing or embarrassing you were today approximately one billion Chinese people could not give a damn. That really puts things in perspective.
My bad day started as others have: I had misunderstood previous instructions and arrived unprepared. While everyone else reviewed their mock final test I sat there on my own. That was today’s first hour. It was not fun to see everyone else getting prepared for Wednesday’s final while I sat on the sidelines. My mind was in a bad place, for sure. One thing that helped me get back on track today was an exercise in positivity I developed with guidance from Mush Panjwani. Specifically Amy Cuddy’s posture advice had a dramatic effect on my mental state when I followed it in our ten minute break. That stuff works.
But today I made another discovery with respect to my Chinese studies. I need to change tactics. And this is fairly easily done.
I recognize my low language intelligence. That does not bother me because I believe intelligence can be improved. Sure, some dimensional intelligence is innate. But drills and practice hone our intellect. And in being a student of language I must learn to be a better student. I may have failed at being a student with my choice of tactics. But, as Thomas Edison said of 10,000 failures, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
The tactics of a successful student are different from a successful businessman. It is funny that I am relearning this after 18 years away from school. But I think this means I will remember it for good this time. Here are a few differences:
- The operative hours for a student are dictated by the teacher. The operative hours for a businessmen (at least in my lines of business) are more flexible and often self-selected. With a short window to learn by instruction, it is critically important to come prepared. In business there is often more opportunity to mask poor preparation with creativity.
- Being a student is often about recall. Recall improves with drills. Businessmen may benefit from recall, but it is less important. More important in business that study are networking and creativity, as I mentioned above.
Now I can augment my observations from April about innate skills and job types. Not only are our skills better matched to some jobs than others, but the discipline of succeeding at some jobs will better match some people’s dispositions more than others. This means that if you hate reading and memorizing don’t be a student. Or a lawyer.
So back to to my bad day. To be a better student, I need to augment my preparation drills to better retain old lessons. I am doing a fairly good job of arriving prepared, although today I did not. I still have to figure out how to to bolster my language intelligence so I can perform better conversationally. But I have nine more months for this sabbatical to do so.