Wim, Very good points. I'm on my way to Reno as I write this to work with the planning committee for next year's Institute in Reno, NV. There are so many opportunities available to us on the chapter, regional, national and international levels if we will only take old of them. I hope everyone is already planning now to attend at least one state or regional and the Annual Institute in Reno. I look forward to seeing everyone from the list there and we're always looking for input on how to make things better. Have a good weekend everyone, Allan Allan L. Gilreath, RPT Assistant Director - TEAM20001 July 2001 - Reno, NV agilreath@mindspring.com http://www.equaltemperament.com/ptg/ Director: Laura Olsen, RPT Assistant Directors: Allan Gilreath, RPT - Gary Neie, RPT - Vince Mrykalo, RPT - Dale Probst, RPT -----Original Message----- From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf Of Wimblees@AOL.COM Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2000 11:10 PM To: Pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Start questioning yourself Start questioning yourself In the Sept. 18, 2000 issue of the St. Louis Post Dispatch Business section is an article entitled, "Are you an excellent employee?" written by Dale Dauten, a businessman and author of a book called "The Gifted Boss". The article deals with complacency in the work place, or "what do you do better now than six months ago?" Mr. Richard Gooding, VP of global strategy for Avnet, said this to Mr. Dauten. "One of the biggest problems in corporate America is creeping complacency. As soon as one task is mastered, you loose the intensity. We take for granted that we know how to do every day tasks, with the excuse, 'Oh, I know how to do this, I've done it a hundred times. I can wing it'. That's when you start skimping on preparation, and stop double checking your facts". Mr. Gooding adds, "The trouble with experience is that you start to think you're good, and that's when you relax". A learning curve should be an elongated S, eventually flattening out as it reaches the point of mastery. Unfortunately, in the real world, what happens is that most people reach a certain level of competency, and then actually falls backwards, into negative learning when workers start to figure out how to avoid work. So the danger isn't just learning, it's anti-learning. And that leads to the Complacency Paradox: "The day you no longer need to ask others how to do your job is the day you must start questioning yourself". Have you been questioning yourself? Are you ready to give yourself the answers to every problem you encounter? Learning is a never ending process. When is the last time you attended a seminar, institute or even a chapter tech session? Do you read the Journal every month? Surfing the net, and participating in Pianotech is certainly better than not doing anything. But are you doing enough to better yourself? Are you better now than six months ago? You know the answer. You know what needs to be done. There are 9 more seminars scheduled in the next year, culminating with a Convention and Institute in Reno. Are you going to attend any of them? Do you have all the answers? Willem
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