Of taking notes and asking doubts

Of taking notes... and asking doubts.

Well, it's been a long time since I came anywhere near my blog and I have a lot of good reasons for it. Good reasons, I said... like my system hanging up on me and my being wrapped up in my own world. Getting wrapped up in my own world and introspecting my thoughts, actions and what I perceive to be other's opinion and impression of me seems to have become a habit with me of late. Maybe it had something to do with the time that I spent travelling alone minus a book to lose myself in. (A total nightmare for a person like me.)

Having joined a new job, I was required to attend an induction program conducted by the program. Now, I do know that some people consider induction to be really painful, but I was looking forward to it with an enthusiasm that would be considered distasteful by some of the people of the former category. I can see you rolling your eyes and muttering "why"? It is a simple answer. For someone who had been on the other end of the content and teaching spectrum, attending an induction where I didn't have to bother about either conducting the program or facilitating it for the participants looked really attractive.

I had been wishing that I could attend some sort of training program of late, but with deadlines looming large upon the horizon, it wouldn't have happened in a hurry. I can see some of you raise your eyebrows and cast a pointed gaze at the title of this blog. Well, be patient... I am getting there. The title has everything to do with the induction program. To cut a long story short, I attended the induction and jumped into it with my heart and soul.... and attained a reputation by the end of the second day - that of taking enough notes to rival the presentation used by the facilitator.

We were divided into groups of 8 and my group members would tease me every time I didn't take notes in a session. Well, my philosophy on asking doubts is simple. If in doubt, ask. Except in exceptional situtaions where you know that everyone except you understands what's going on and you'll probably look like a silly ninny or worse as if you are seeking to grab attention if you voice your doubts. In that case, the safest bet is to stay silent and clarify it with the group later on. Of course, having a dollop of common sense goes a long way in helping you determine because very often the basic concepts are more about applying common sense in theory to practical tasks than anything else.

Coming to taking notes, the point my group made was this: All the slides or at least most of the slides that we were being shown were already in the kit given to us. So where was the purpose of my taking notes? The reason is simple: Each person has his/her own way of absorbing things that are taught to them. There are some who are blessed with a photographic memory and can just look at a page and remember it for days afterward. Whether they retain it in their long memory is something I am not aware of and I have no way of finding out either. There are others who gulp the contents of the book as if they were delicacies and burp them all out in the assessment. And then there comes the category that I belong to: those who have to write down things as and when they hear/learn them to commit them to memory. I know it works for me.

Maybe because doing this involves putting down points in a short manner that would later help you recall the concept just by looking at the points. Recall value, you know. And the additional advantage is that when you put things down in writing, they somehow don't look as complex as they did when they were on the slide. And it gives you the additional advantage of being able to note down the anecdotes or examples given by the facilitator to illustrate and illuminate the point. This is like a higher advantage - even if you don't recall the explanation, the notes about the example will probably make your brain recall the example and the detailed explanation that followed. Sounds simple right? Wrong! Apparently, it's a waste of energy to write notes when the material is already available and you could probably gain more by listening intently to the lecture.

Well, there's no convincing people to look at things in any other way than their own. Certain types of people at least. So, I took my own easy way out. I take notes to help my memory and they sleep to help theirs. Convenient and comfortable! And a lot easier on the stress levels.