Thinking more about how we get past the “I can’t do it” stage of skills development (See a great conversation from last weekend by Simon Dunkley, Trevor Marshall and Mike Cougill ), I realized today that one of the things I do is I try things out before I proceed.
This evening, for example, I wasn’t sure if I could solder a piece of 3/32 brass tube to PC board. So, I tried it with a scrap first. It turns out it was relatively easy (tinned the tube, fluxed the board, revved the old Weller up to “4”), but I didn’t know that going in.
These practice attempts are not conclusive: I have found that sometimes the demo version works, but in real life it doesn’t go so well. However, if it doesn’t go well on the practice attempt, I know I have to change my approach or develop a skill before attacking the model.
As Michaelangelo said, “I am still learning.”
