Last week, I was taking a two-day grant writing seminar provided by our cancer center. Grant writing is one of few ways scientists make money for their work. It is a critical skill to write fundable grants.
They provided 7 hour talk sessions, slides handouts, and 239-page guidebook. The contents are essentially detailed instructions for the NIH grant writing. They are far more detailed than original instructions for the grants and explain purposes of each part. The contents are distilled from collective wisdom for writing successful grants. It is an art form, I thought.
Afterwards, I have been taking my time to apply the contents and instructions to my own grant writing. With good instructions, in many cases, "just do it" yields the best results. It has been a lot of fun. It may take more than a few attempts to implement the contents successfully. But the seminar was that good and worth adopting.
When we learn something practical, the subject usually is an art; a collection of "doing something in a manner (or manners) for a particular purpose". And good instructions clearly illustrate "how and what to do" in the art. The instructions themselves are an art form. We may need to supply "why" by ourselves, though.
When I read "Mastering Jujitsu" by Renzo Gracie and John Danaher (2003), I was very impressed by how well they break down the "game" of one-on-one, unarmed combat/contest in a closed area. They see the game by the ranges/distance, by the advantageous/disadvantageous relative positions, and by the phases/process (initial engagement to endgame). They provided new ways to appreciate UFC-style mixed martial arts contests.
Compared with that systematic approach, "practice these moves, get tough, get faster, get more power or moves, be good and may the better one win" approach of some poor old-school martial arts looked almost idiotic.
Such is the power of methodical thinking.
PS
The car fluid leak I mentioned in previous entry (11/13) turned out to be differential fluid leak. I anticipate another $600 for the repair. Maybe some cut in shopping, but money can make a lot of troubles go away. Got to use it well for the purpose.
