Do what works for you

A colleague of mine told me about a great tool the other day and how well it was working for her to help building concept maps. I was very excited about it and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and give it a try. But after working with it, I was not impressed. It just didn’t work for me and the way I like to put my concept maps together. I went back to my colleague to learn more about how she was using it. I then made some other adjustments and tried it a few more times. It still didn’t improve on what I’m currently doing. Despite how well it was working for her and my initial enthusiasm, I decided it just wasn’t for me.

It did get me thinking though about something very important that I learned in grade school. My school was for students with learning differences. They had a set of tools that they provided their students. But each student used a different combination of tools. They would use a tool and if it worked well with that student, they would continue to use it. If it did not work well, they would take another run at it to give it a fair try but if it didn’t work they would move on to something else.

What I learned from that is very important as we look at new tools. Do what works for you! A tool may work great for me but that doesn’t mean that it will work for you. That doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with what you are doing. That doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with the tool. It just means that it doesn’t fit how you process information and learn. Or it doesn’t fit well with other tools that you use. It is important to give it a fair try since anything new takes some effort to learn to use. But how it fits with your learning style and the other tools that work for you is uniquely yours. It will grow and change over time but will always be uniquely yours. Own and take pride in your unique toolbox. Always look to improve it but never worry that it doesn’t look like mine.