"It’s hard to show how you organize your thoughts when you’re barely keeping them organized in your head." this sentence reached my soul. It's as the answer as to 'how did you know it?': "well, I just know it. Looks as common sense" but it's not. Others want to know our process but we don't fully understand it.
Some years ago I read the favourite interview question from a successful and well known PM: "what did you learn last year?" (or something similar) and I've been STRUGGLING to find anything I learned more than a week ago (if anything) although I know I learn a lot everyday as I'm constantly reading, analysing and thinking about stuff that I then add to my knowledge or way of thinking...
Anyway, I'm loving this PM interview series as I also find the extremely difficult to perform and hate it that I don't get any feedback to know what went well and where did I screw it up
Thanks for sharing your story Abel. I too struggle with "wtf did I learn last year". For me it stems mainly from my self-loathing. It's a belief that everything I do is unremarkable to others because I managed to do it.
So when someone asks what I learned or did last year, my first thought is, "nothing because nothing I do is worth mentioning". That's the ADHD talking though, not reality.
Here's a reframe you can try "what did you learn?".
"What were the most interesting things you tried last year and what happened?". The wording is meant to take the judgement of "learned" out of the questions.
"Tried" and "what happened" takes off the pressure of the judgement of "learning". Learning implies a grand insight, which if you're like me, you probably don't think you had any at first thought.
If you can get your self thinking of stuff you tried last year and what happened though, all you need to do is frame the story to "what you learned". I hope that helps.
"It’s hard to show how you organize your thoughts when you’re barely keeping them organized in your head." this sentence reached my soul. It's as the answer as to 'how did you know it?': "well, I just know it. Looks as common sense" but it's not. Others want to know our process but we don't fully understand it.
Some years ago I read the favourite interview question from a successful and well known PM: "what did you learn last year?" (or something similar) and I've been STRUGGLING to find anything I learned more than a week ago (if anything) although I know I learn a lot everyday as I'm constantly reading, analysing and thinking about stuff that I then add to my knowledge or way of thinking...
Anyway, I'm loving this PM interview series as I also find the extremely difficult to perform and hate it that I don't get any feedback to know what went well and where did I screw it up
Thanks for sharing your story Abel. I too struggle with "wtf did I learn last year". For me it stems mainly from my self-loathing. It's a belief that everything I do is unremarkable to others because I managed to do it.
So when someone asks what I learned or did last year, my first thought is, "nothing because nothing I do is worth mentioning". That's the ADHD talking though, not reality.
Here's a reframe you can try "what did you learn?".
"What were the most interesting things you tried last year and what happened?". The wording is meant to take the judgement of "learned" out of the questions.
"Tried" and "what happened" takes off the pressure of the judgement of "learning". Learning implies a grand insight, which if you're like me, you probably don't think you had any at first thought.
If you can get your self thinking of stuff you tried last year and what happened though, all you need to do is frame the story to "what you learned". I hope that helps.