A Thinker or a Worker?

This week in my Inquiry class I was given the assignment to read a number of articles and write about them in my blog. The twist was that I could not summarize the articles. I have to ask questions. Questions that you, the reader, have to think about. So I’m reading these articles, and I noticed a similarity between them. All of them contained the ingredients, when put together, that could help you achieve your very best in college. So the question is: Are you a thinker or a worker?

      

       In the article, “How to Become a Deep Thinker at College”, (http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/10/24/how-to-become-a-deep-thinker-at-college/),

 a Princeton professor described a group of straight-A students as the following: “…they have trained their mind to think hard, produce subtle, nuanced arguments, and find deep connections between ideas.” In other words, these students have learned how to think. Each straight-A student had set enough time aside in their schedules to take the time and really think about their work, and what it means. I’ve said this before, for every hour in class, that’s two hours of work out of class. But now its not just work and how fast your getting it done, you have to become one with your work…and I know how corny that sounds. In order to get the most out of your classes, however, you have to become a deep thinker. You have to take the time to really get into the class and think of new ideas related to your work. To do this you have to find an interest in your classes. People don’t put the effort of thinking if they have no interest in what they have to think about. Its human nature, so find an interest, no matter how small, and use that one it to expand your thoughts.  

      

       All though being a deep thinker will help you to perform better in class, you also need to be a worker. In the article, “Work Hard or Work Smart,” (http://www.deliverfreedom.com/blog/work-hard-or-work-smart/), the author describes to different kinds of workers, the hard worker and the smart worker. A hard worker is the guy that keeps his head down and works really hard for 25 years, but doesn’t end up to far from where he started. The smart worker is the guy who is always looking for the shortcut. If there’s an easier way, he’ll find it. However he is spending much more time and energy on getting it done the “smart “ way than he is actually spending on getting the work done. So what kind of worker should you be? The answer is a little bit of both. To be a smart worker, make a plan. Plan out how much time it is going to take you to do all your work, as a thinker would, in a week. To be a hard worker, stick to that plan. Once you have come up with your plan, or schedule for that week, work your butt off at every part of it.

      I’ll leave you with one more thing to think about. In the article “The Myth of Multitasking,” (http://lifehacker.com/5041144/debunking-the-myth-of-multitasking), business coach, Dave Crenshaw, explains that multitasking is a lie. He actually calls it “switchtasking.” It has been proven that us, mere humans, can NOT focus on more than one thing at one time. We think that we’re being clever and faster by doing two things at once, but in reality, its actually wasting time changing attention from one thing to the other. You will actually get things done faster if you FOLLOW THE PLAN, and get things done one at a time.

      So what have we learned? The information in each article is going to mean something different to everyone. I know what I got from each article, but what about you? Are you a thinker or a worker, or are you both?