Don't google... yet...

  by  Aray Chen 

Google is a very good tool and is a necessity in this fast growing internet age. But it cannot serve as an answer to anything.

COMMUNICATE WITHIN FIRST:

In fact for some of the most important things, the answers lie within. Not every problem that we face have a direct answer to them. A lot of them may be subjective and open to one's own imagination. It is after constant and continual reflections within that we can find the answers to some of these things. We need to urge ourselves to communicate to the voice deep within. Resist your urge to google your question immediately and quickly look at what like-minded people have arrived at. In my opinion, googling must be the last resort that should follow after 'talking-hearing-within' and appropriately documenting your thought process. 

INTERNAL CHEMISTRY:

Googling habit or tech-gadget reliance immediately at the surfacing of a question retards the chemistry that one enjoys with his inner self. Progressively one starts believing that he does not have the capability to provide a solution. One becomes a cattle member following the crowd. Believing that a 'ready-made' answer - that will perfectly solve your problem - lurks somewhere in the internet, diminishes the 'YOU' individuality. It makes you one among the common stereotypes.

HOW TO USE GOOGLE:

• DOCUMENT WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AND WHY: When you reach a block, for which you have to find an answer - first document in your own words what are you looking to achieve / solve and why. This will help you set the context clearly not allowing you to distract. Use this to frame your search query astutely.
• PRESENT THE BIGGER PICTURE: This might follow immediately after documenting the issue or after gathering the first set of search results. How does the answer shapes the further proceeding of the project. This helps in looking 'beyond'. By this you don't limit your search to 1 answer - which is good in a lot of cases.
• ASK YOURSELF IF YOUR UNDERSTANDING THIRST IS QUENCHED: Ask yourself whether the answer that you have arrived is completely satisfying your understanding. If there are areas of uncertainties, document them and either research more or proceed further based on your judgement of the magnitude of the uncertain areas.

WHEN TO USE GOOGLE:

• Validation of properly established opinions and calculated assumptions
• Events, locations and people searching
• Direct answer questions such as math related issues
• Documentation templates

Finally remember to constantly revisit / evolve what you are looking for.