Slowing down is the key to increased speed.
Past couple of months I am dabbing with fortran GUI and trying pgplot graphics library. I have produced gui's in c and then integrated them with fortran, but creating GUIs from fortran is new to me.
As the exploration began i took the fire aim adjust approach!! I dived deep into the tutorials and anything that I could lay my hands on.
Quickly from tutorials I graduated to actually creating my own programs. This has been going on for a couple of months now.
In the begining I was sprinting as hard as possible. Learning,doing, getting stuck, reading and then doing again. The pace was fast.
But now as I become comfortable, my approach has shifted. I have slowed.
I write a program and ponder how and what am I actually doing. This slowing down and pondering has doubled my learning. It feels like I am learning at greater pace with this slowdown.
So the technique I want to advocate to anyone learning a new programming language, a new analysis or cad software, is to run in the first few weeks. Race and learn as much as you are able to handle. Dive deep and continue the pace as long as you are able to.
When exhaustion, sense of acheivement begins to creep in, slow down. Become deliberate in what you are doing? Question why and what you are doing?
I hope applying this method will help you as much as it has helped me.
What are your views, do let it out in the comments.
