Comments on: What Is “Overthinking”?

By: Maria

Maria — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:08:03 +0000

I don’t think this is an either/or, but a both/and. Two musical references come to mind. The Mamas and Papas (I’m dating myself!) used to say that when there were ‘on’ they could hear another voice added to theirs (which they named and I’ve forgotten). It didn’t happpen often, and only after much practice. They called it magical. It could be called flow or excellence or blend or magic. It did come as a result of unconscious competence I believe. And to get there you need lots of deliberate practice. The same could be said of The Beatles, who were so polished when they came to America where their new sound seem natural and fully formed- the result of literally years of practice in German nightclubs. I like your student’s idea of questioning for assumptions. Am I overthinking this topic? Could it be simpler than the dialogue suggests (like just too much detail in my brain at a specific moment)? You open the door to interesting musings Mylene.

By: Mylène

Mylène — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:27:32 +0000

Hi Maria, thanks for your thoughts. You raise some interesting points about the pattern of skill development and the awkwardness that happens in the transition to conscious competence. One of my students the other day raised the point that the habit of questioning could help identify hidden assumptions -- I think that that feeling of suddenly becoming aware of something we've taken for granted can be unpleasant, especially if we're not expecting it. On "flow," I'm intrigued by this line of thought: The Father of Deliberate Practice Disowns Flow. An excerpt: It is clear that skilled individuals can sometimes experience highly enjoyable states (‘‘flow’’ as described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) during their performance. These states are, however, incompatible with deliberate practice, in which individuals engage in a (typically planned) training activity aimed at reaching a level just beyond the currently attainable level of performance by engaging in full concentration, analysis after feedback, and repetitions with refinement.

By: Maria

Maria — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:07:24 +0000

Hi Mylene,

Welcome back to a new year! Did you get your half time as requested or are you back full tilt?

I really enjoyed reading the incredibly prepared notes on your Assessing presentation. And thank you for your genorosity in freeing me to be where i needed to be, leaving you on your own. Getting the feedback from our Trades colleagues on the positive aspect of seeing one of their own facilitating was interesting and something we need to listen to.

Your blog on ‘overthinking’ ‘intrigued me. The following are my comments/questions. Is overthinking the idea of concentrating so profoundly on the steps/parts/sections that the natural flow of the overall action or activity gets lost? I’m thinking here of its use by elite athletes. How is ‘overthinking’ connected to the pattern of skill development from unconsciously incompetent through consciously incompetent and consciouly competent to unconsciouly competent? Does ‘overthinking’ happen in specific areas of skill development only? Interesting topic!

On another note, once your life gets less busy, I’d like to have a follow up meeting with you to dialogue on Assessing.

Maria