S1E5 How to Use a Can Opener

First we should learn from others, then add to it. We do not need to experience someone else's experience in order to learn.

You should ask first and then built on it.
Schooling teaches you how to fish it does not give you the fish.

Q: In your opinion, what is the better way, asking how or figuring it out on own?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Welcome to Life Workshop, where we discuss the forgotten basics. As usual, this are this is your most favorite host and co-host, Mo and Bo.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

And today's subject is how do you use a can opener? So the story goes like this. I believe you know there was this young lady, 16, 17 year old, that asked her dad how to use a can opener. She hadn't used it, I believe, prior to that.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

And then 16 or 17? Yeah, something like that. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

And then a dad says, Go figure it out. And then she he puts it on Twitter, I believe, and then it becomes a big thing that you know, some people they say you should show her, some they say you should go figure it out. Let her figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

My question for you, what would you do? And it is not just about a young person, it's about anybody. If anybody of any age comes to you and asks a simple question, for example, how to use a can opener, what would you do?

SPEAKER_00 1:28

I probably look, I'd probably look at her and go, huh? And then they would be, hey, I don't know how to use can opener. And I would say, Oh, okay. So we will go over and I would open the can for her and just show her how to use the can opener.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

And you and you know, and it depends on what type of can opener too. Because if it's an electric one, I don't know how to use it.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Then somebody else would say, huh?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Exactly. Do you? Yep. Yeah. So that I think I would show I would show first, and then it'd be like, here, that's how that's how you do it. Yeah. And the and the older the person, the less patience I would probably have with it. Because I would I would in my mind it would be like you should already know how to do this, even though that's not fair.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Correct. Okay. So you're discriminating against age? Yes. Okay. Good to know.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

But and I'm I'm I'm okay with it.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

As long as you're okay with it. Okay. So the moral of the story is this that you know, yeah, do we ask or do we do things? Normally I say this before I answer, you know, the way I think about that, I normally say this. They say, it is said, big mistakes happen when small mistakes are ignored. Um this is somehow it relates to this uh to the stories. For example, if you ask um this young person or anybody says that, okay, go use the can opener, and then they might damage the can opener or they may not do it the right way. But is that the way to do it or yeah, just show her or show the person and then let them do it? This is the interesting part. I had a friend of mine recently that uh didn't have a can opener and I think he had damaged his, and then he came and you know, borrowed mine. Sure. And this is the very interesting after this, it was just a few weeks ago. Then I said, okay, you know what? This can opener is used this way. When you grab the can, lift it up, don't put the can on the table and then open it. Yeah. And then he didn't say anything and he took it, but then afterwards he told me that he had some friends, and you know, he had told them that I showed him how to use the can opener, and they laughed at it because he knows how to use the can opener. The interesting part is that they had the same can opener previous to that, okay, whom another friend wanted to use and broke it.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

So this can opener that got, which was exactly the same as the previous one, I had not even used it yet.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

So he came and borrowed that. The way I see things is this I would personally show them, or even if I wanted him to figure it out, because I don't know what you know or what you don't know.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

And I'm not gonna make the assumption. And I don't think there is any good reason why I should let you practice it while you can damage the can opener. It's better just to learn it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Not that it's I mean, I don't really know. It doesn't seem super hard to me, because I know how they work. But and then it goes back into like you saying, you create bad habits for yourself, and then it goes into the and ever every tool, because can't a tool, so every tool has its own um I can't find that not instruction, but at the everything has its own um um intric interests intricacies. Uh yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever the word is. Um but uh we're going back to the 80, 80, 20 rule, right? Yeah, sure, it's easy to but say you had to figure out oh, you have to lift it up. You know, and there's always little things like like that, little tricks or something to everything, every tool has correct, you know. So then you not only do you have to like struggle with figuring out how to how to do something, you also have to get those little finesses into, right? So in if you can get shown a basic way of how to do do something, then you can develop those other things.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

And this is exactly it personally, I did not read the man was normally, I would just figure things out. And for example, once I bought this swing set for my boy, and you know, when I did put it up together, I was left with a few more screws and some pieces. Yeah, it did work, but not the best way. So, and uh these mistakes happen because we think we know, and when you say that, you know, I know. My thing is even that friend of mine who broke my can opener previous to that, he thought he knew. Yeah, yeah, and I'm not saying necessarily it's a can opener, it's not a big deal. And somebody may say that who cares is a can opener. I would say no, no, it's the principle of it, and the second thing, we don't want to waste. You know, why should we break something? Doesn't matter if the cost, even if it's free, even if they pay you to take it. Yeah, why should I waste the material when we know, you know, the if we have this climate change and all these things? And why? You know, it's just there is no good reason. Now I'm gonna take it one step further.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

For example, I'm a physiotherapist. Um, so I didn't become a physiotherapist learning it on my own. I went to a school. Yeah, of course. Well, maybe we don't argue with that, say that okay, so that is more of a complicated thing. When you want to become a plumber, you go to some sort of a training. Yeah, however, there are some that they might think that they can bypass that and become a plumber. And they do plumbing jobs, they watch YouTube videos. That is correct, but again, even when they watch, literally, they are learning it from somebody else. So um basically the fact remains the same. We normally learn it from somebody else, we build on it. And even the ones that they become uh um handyman and they uh learn a lot of stuff, often if they haven't done a proper schooling around it, they will screw up more.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

And I'm talking in general, the little things will be missing or um some some steps that um that you should be taking don't get taken and you don't you're not fully there. Yeah. Um another thing with with with that is you always look always look at the manual. Even like a set of say tabs that you've put in a hundred times, always look because they they they change little thing things on you that you don't even see and it screws everything up.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

And this is exactly where I'm going with this thing. Those small uh things that you know they keep changing, or sometime you especially sometimes when you know that you think that you know there are the times that you know you make more mistakes. Even for example, let's say as a physical therapist, when I do my practice, I never bypass things. I mean, I have done it and I have screwed up that way too. So I never bypass things because of that. I ask and ask and ask, and I don't make assumptions on those kind of things. So the concept is that we normally learn somehow, and then um basically by asking a question, and then after that we build on it. Of course, once I brought this up, a friend said that, but if you do that, the concept of creativity and problem solving, what will happen to that? I said, actually, that's not correct. Even, for example, when you go to a school or uh of any type of training, they show you the principle of thinking, the principle of you know doing a job. They don't necessarily solve every single problem for you.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

That's like saying, hey, I don't can you can you read this to me? Well, figure it out when you don't know how to read. That is correct. Like, what what kind of what kind of like what is that?

SPEAKER_01 9:53

We don't want to actually just keep going back to, you know, because if we wanted to figure things out, if I want to a little bit stretch it, then each one of us we should go back to the caveman thing that we should start learning things on our own. But that's not how it works. We learn from each other and then we add to it. Right. And even for example, let's say this podcast, personally, I have gone and I'm sure you have done the same thing, or we go and learn from others, we try to repackage it in a better way and you know, bring it up again, maybe with some changes. But again, we have learned it somewhere. We don't go figure things out on our own. That's not how it works. And I'm hoping, you know, somebody is watching us and you know, or listening to this podcast and can learn it, and then they can add something to it and bring it up differently. And that is why, even previously in previous podcasts, I said that I would appreciate it if this becomes a platform and if, for example, you can make the subject more mature, please go ahead. And I'm not looking for agreement again. I'm looking for you know making these things a bit more, you know, a kind of better way, that if you can describe it better, if you can come up with a different way of explaining it, uh, basically to do that. So the idea is again that we learn from each other and then add to it. Even now I'm going a bit too far, but from the school, you know, sometimes they say that that is why we go to a school. The whole concept that we learn something. But some people sometimes they say that a school kills the creativity. I don't think so. For some parts, maybe correct, and they know school can change and they are changing it to the best of my knowledge. And sometimes some of the changes may not be as good or we may not agree with them. But as a general principle, the concept of learning from somebody else is the right thing to do. Right. Not to figure it out on our own. And then as we learn, then we add to it. Even I tell, you know, when we have staff that they join our practice, I normally tell them, you know, for the first three months, do not make any comments. Just please ask questions. Because almost for anything and everything we do, we have a reason. And yes, we could be, you know, wrong or our reasoning might not be reasonable now anymore. It fitted at one point. But ask questions first. Right. And then let us explain, and then as you learn it, then you can make some suggestions. So when it comes, for example, to this can opener, sure, let just show them how it works. Of course, this is a simpler concept, maybe it doesn't apply as much, and then let them afterwards even add something to it if there is a better way of doing it. Right. But of course, this is a simple thing, you know, can open. I don't know if there are multiple different ways to approach it. Oh, you bet there are ways to break it, and there are ways that not to break it. Yeah. So uh anyway, at the end of the thing, the concept of problem solving and challenges and creativity, that you know, sometimes people they think that if go figure it out on your own, that is not how it is done. You learn the structure, then after that, you you know, uh to the best that you can, and then when you have asked and you have been taught in a way or through YouTube videos as a do-it-yourself or your you know somebody else has shown you how this is done, then after you have learned that, then you can go build on it. Not just to from the get-go, no, I'm gonna figure it out on my own. Right. And as you mentioned, you know, even for every single tap that you do, again, you just go read the manual because I should I remember that you did that when you were doing my house. That because they change things.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

And um, you know, it's better to do that.

unknown 13:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

And there's time, you know, and I I've I've haven't done that sometimes, and it's bit it bit bit bit bit me in the ass, you know. Yeah, just the other the other day that happened to me.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

But exactly. You just try to bypass, and then there's just one piece missing, you know, you have one thing you don't do, and it just doesn't go smoothly. So anyway, the whole idea is if it was me, I would show her. And then after that, I would let her, you know, just to take over from there. So asking questions, of course, yes, I agree that there are some dumb questions, but yeah, we will get there. But often the questioning is better, and normally say, and uh as I had believed I had mentioned it before in my previous you know TV show that I had, the this was curious mind, and I'd say welcome to curious mind, where comments are not welcome, questions are. So I rec you know, I encourage asking questions, and then after that, learning, then you can add to it. Right. So, do you have anything else to add to this thing? Now you know how to use a can opener.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Well, no, I don't, but great. We never really did any instructions, but okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

And actually, this is another thing. Then I go to some people, to friends' houses or something, normally avoid using stuff without their permission. Yeah, you know, uh, and because especially the things are different, and I'm not gonna keep pushing buttons. I ask them, yeah, you know, this is another thing, and then after that, you know, uh unless if it is exactly the same and even that I have, then I would say I use it this way, is that okay? I really again ask for the confirmation just to make sure that I'm doing it the way that you know they're okay with it. Yeah. So anyway, at the end again, I would like to say this. Um, as I have mentioned it before, the whole concept of this podcast is that hopefully we can just build, you know, um, by learning from each other and just helping, you know, to mature a subject. So please, if you have something to add at any point, you know, if there are any other ways that you can explain it, please let us know. And as always, the best way to get a hold of us is info at lifeworkshop.ca. And now the question of the day is what is the better way again? You know, I would appreciate that. If you would go and ask, you know, friends, you know, and um a family that you know what they think, you know, that do they show you the can opener how it is used, or would they ask you to figure it out? And then what would they do? Again, at the end, life is simple, we make it complicated. Take care, guys. Bye bye.