Becoming Better

I realized I remember things I read and what people tell me, though I am not conscious of it. Somehow whatever goes through my mind remains in me in one way or another. I am that mentally flexible. I realized as I am reading some columns I had read more than 5 years ago, that I still live by many of its principles. For example, I have deliberately chose to specialize in "patriotism" because I wanted to invest sufficient effort and time to become an expert. I had once read somewhere that to advance knowledge in an area, you need to go deep into it. Though somewhere else it says, you need to find that area of special interest to you, I still remember this metaphor of "digging deep" better than shallowly scooping top layers, and it has been something I live by.

So it is fascinating. My boss told me when I asked for feedback during my appraisal that the improvements one makes further down the line, the more familiar one becomes with one's work, the more one is like an expert, are less and less obvious. A beginner learns many things afresh, and it gives the impression of constant advancement. However, a more experienced researcher, would be polishing his skill. Improvement comes in smaller doses, like perhaps writing faster. I used to take 1 week to do something, and now I only take 1 day. And things like this. You may not pick up new skills, but you become better at old skills. So there, I have entered the next phase of my researcher life!