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Learning styles

Tuesday, March 22 2005 - blog

I was thinking about learning styles this evening, and trying to figure out what I am. I think I'm part intuitive and part verbal, but I didn't care enough to actually take the test.

One thing I do know is that a big part of me is an ambulatory learner. That is, I feel this need to walk around as I think through things. It's really wierd. It's like I can feel the seed of an idea germinating somewhere in the back of my brain and feel the need to augment my mental journey with a physical one in order to arrive at the final solution.

I think my old office subconsciously enabled this behavior. At Avanade, I used to sit literally around the corner from the coffee machine. The 30 feet and 30 seconds it took me to go get a refill on my coffee was usually enough to get me over the hump. Net result: when I was working though a tough problem, I usually drank a lot of coffee.

My new office is maximally distant from the coffee machine. It's probably helping to moderate my caffiene intake (which is probably a good thing), but I find that I now lack a good destination to which to pace. As such, I find myself making short little trips about two or three offices down the hall and then spontaneously turning around and going back to work. It looks odd, I'm sure.

I need to find a different way of unconstipating my mental processes.

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#1 Don Demsak on 3.23.2005 at 5:27 AM

Music, music, music.It has always let me unlock the pure thinking part of the brain by keeping the artistic side busy with music (at least that is what I chalk it up to).For the really tuff problems, I add driving to the mix (I guess walking would work too).Because I'm concentrating on both driving and the music, it really the analytical side do its thing.The scary part is arriving at my destination, and not remembering how I got there.

#2 Randy H. on 3.23.2005 at 7:55 AM

Walk to a colleague's office, someone that won't mind being interrupted (or having you lurk outside their door). That ought to do the trick.

#3 Taft B. on 3.26.2005 at 9:04 AM

I will second the music comment, but for me not all music will do; Pink Floyd is always a winner :) - the problem in walking to a colleague office for me is it can often side track my train of thought into something else, like NCAA basketball, and that doesnt help.