Each day is a new opportunity to learn and each project Petersen Technology takes on is a new way for us to continue to grow in our knowledge and skills. Take, for instance, our latest project. We were asked to collaborate with a few other engineers to create a product for a leading football helmet company. The prototype needed to be designed, built and programmed and replicated 8 times in less than 6 weeks in order to be ready for demonstration at a sports expo. With this kind of deadline, it’s all hands on deck which meant I was needed to jump into the electronics tech position-soldering, building cables and whatever else the engineer needed-which was something I had not done up until this point. The engineer needed to learn about packet radio and how to write protocols to communicate between the prototype and the established software measurement program.
According to Matt Norman’s article there are four different archetypes when it comes to new opportunities to learn.
1. The Learning Denier thinks that intelligence and talent are hardwired into us and therefore she is limited in what she believes she can learn.
2. The Learning Deflector hides behind the knowledge she already has. While thinking that learning is important, she tends to not take on new skills.
3. The Learning Discusser talks about all of the learning she is doing but rarely puts steps in place to act on it.
4. The Learning Doer realizes that she needs to continue to gain knowledge and skills to stay current and remains humble and teachable as she puts her new skills into practice.
I needed to be a Learning Doer in order to help keep the project on course and push it to completion. The engineer has always been a Learning Doer. He says yes to new opportunities to learn all of the time which is why he has stayed current on the latest technologies. I wanted to say yes, too, despite my doubts. Long story-short-we were able to complete the project with time to spare (more specifics about this project once it’s public).
Be a Learning Doer. Not only do you gain in knowledge and skills but you gain in confidence as you rise to challenge and learn that you can do it!
