My CISCO Journal

Today I want to share a very useful technique with you, which I learned during my University times. Most of the time, when we read some new technical stuff, we are not able to understand it in the first go. Suppose if you are reading some great article in Scientific American or in the Economist, you will not be able to understand the article thoroughly in the first go. If you are not a native English speaker like me, you may need to read that article several times to understand it completely.

When I was in university, I was struggling hard to understand the Signals and Systems book by Oppenheim (http://www.amazon.com/Signals-Systems-Edition-Alan-Oppenheim/dp/0138147574). I talked to my professor, and discussed my problem with him. He gave me a wonderful advice. He asked me to us the “re-read” technique. Like if you read a passage and didn't understand it, then re-read that passage. In the first phase, our brain might not be able to understand it. It’s like the baby steps, but once we process the same technical stuff again and again by our brain, you will be amazed to know that you will understand the same stuff which was difficult before.

Believe me Signals and Systems is one of the tough subjects during an engineering degree, but when I begin to use my professor technique to not give up and re-read the passage again and again, then it was the moment of enlightenment. I begin to master and learn the concepts from which I was running.

When I begin my Networking journey, I used the same technique, like I will not leave a highly technical paragraph, until I thoroughly understand it. How many times I will get lost in the technicality of a topic, but I won't stop. Sometimes I feel bored, sometimes I feel that I will not be able to understand this stuff anyhow, but if I stick a little longer and re-read again and again, then believe me the meanings will get open for you and you will master it definitely.

As I am not a native English speaker, I had to struggle hard to understand the highly technical stuff sometimes, but this re-read advice comes in handy and at the end of the day I do understand it. So as a conclusion:

Some difficult passage/technical stuff

                      Re-read it, again and again, don’t give up, don’t feel bad, and don’t get depressed

                                                                                           The End result, you will understand it

At the end of the day, it’s you who need to understand it; no one else will come to put it into your mind J