Memory... where I succeed and where I fail (work)

I have been working a colleague who works very differently from how I work, but we have the same role. Although we both still get the work done successfully and effectively. What I always found fascinating as we discuss our processes was the things I never paid attention to and how I have absolutely no recollection to the piece of information.

The most interesting thing that I am always thinking in the back of my mind while we're chatting was how little I remember about the details that she picked up. I mean absolutely zero information like reading the document at all, but I did in reality. I only know because I keep a checklist of tasks that I am supposed to complete. I am also very consistent on the missing information.

What I have learned is that there are many factors to how my mind remembers and recalls information. The biggest factor is how much I "care" about the information. For me to work quickly and effectively, I ignore a lot information that is not directly relevant to my role. The less I care, then I will more likely forget the information. If I don't care, I will almost not remember a thing about it.

The next because factor is stress and time. By stress, I do not really mean high blood pressure but how close I am to my limitations. For example, I can only handle at most two new emergency releases. Another one, my level of quality will drop dramatically. If you were to ask me 2-3 months later about the details of those releases, I will almost not remember a thing even though I appeared to know all the random numbers and ids at the time. But given time and a long term release, I will remember significantly more information for a much longer period of time.

On the other hand, my colleague has less tolerance with stress. The reason (imo) is that she cares about a lot more information. If there is ever a problem, she will be able to resolve the problem herself. She has a reputation to be a great superstar. I am more known for managing and handling processes.

In some ways, we make a good team though. We have more work than our team can handle so she gets delegated the larger and more complex releases, while I work on the more immediate requests. We do have other people in our team and they fall in the spectrum between us, and we all work out pretty well.

Unfortunately for me is that this is a little fail for me because I am almost always busy but I am the only person willing to build something to improve our process (at least as far as I know). I have recently spoken to my manager so hopefully this will alleviate some time for me to improve our work.

Exercise 20170101

I didn't reach my goal last year to run a 10k, but I think I could have at least finished one under 80 minutes. I feel confident that I can reach it this year.

As of this morning, I have lost 10 pounds since a year ago. Yesterday, I attempted my fastest pace on a treadmill for 5k which I ended up finishing in 30.5 minutes. It was not a straight run, I did have to take a couple breaks (~30 seconds each).

Since I've gotten my fitbit in June, I started around 20k steps and slowly decreased to 10k steps by end of the year. This was mostly due to the increased workload due to everyone being out for the holidays so I was unable to take a lunch break to walk (mostly ate at my desk which also meant I ate unhealthier foods).

Also, I did less running and more strength training primarily with chest presses. I started around 25-30 pounds of about 3 sets of 20 reps, and ended up doing around 40-45 pounds of about 3 sets of 12-15. I still cannot do a pullup, but pushups are a little easier now.

On the treadmill, I oddly feel like I get "tired" but found if I increase the speed, I have renewed energy. I have started wondering if I am getting "bored" or maybe somehow that increases my adrenaline due to my personal competitiveness? I kind of doubt the latter since I can be lazy especially about myself. I find it easier to be "competitive" when I think it'll help someone else.

I've also started eating a little healthier in mixing in more greens into my diet. Broccoli, zucchini, and spinach has been a good portion of my default vegetables for my lunches. I am still not consistent with the cooking them as they always seem to come out differently each time. I also drank more home-made fruit smoothies, primarily pineapple, banana, strawberry, and blueberries. Sometimes watermelon, apple, and peaches.

I really need to work on getting more sleep. I was doing ok mid-year but recently, I have been averaging around 4-5 hours of sleep. I am not sure why but it has been getting harder for me to fall asleep even though I am in bed at a reasonable time.

Reference

http://douglastclee.blogspot.com/2016/01/exercise-20160109.html

Those who can't... teach

The saying that "those who cannot, teach" have the misconeption that teachers, coaches, etc. are failures, and learning from the successful is more helpful. But what really is happening is that the successful are less likely to be successful teachers because they do not understand failure as well as those that have. 

This is an important lesson to learn because without having a check on this logical pitfall, this could lead us to problems like gambling addictions, not seeing the correct problem, solving the wrong problem (survivor bias), blindly follow seemlingly successful people to bigger failure (ponzi schemes), etc.

Reference

http://douglastclee.blogspot.com/2016/06/survivor-bias-logic-and-statistics.html