I’m not sure if it qualifies for advice but there are two things that my Dad taught me that have been invaluable to me over the years.
When I was nine years old, my Dad sat me down at the kitchen table after dinner and spent the next several weeks teaching me how to type. It was a blue and white portable manual typewriter – one of those where you really had to hit the keys hard. You sure couldn’t set any speed records with that thing. But I learned the proper way to type.
In high school I took typing classes but ended up helping the typing teachers type stuff for the other teachers. We used those old mimeograph masters that were a royal pain to fix if you made a mistake – cut a piece from an edge that wasn’t being used, insert it over the mistake, type the correction. It wasn’t long before you learned to be very careful and not make any mistakes.
Sometimes it was kind of funny because the teachers had to make sure that they didn’t give me anything from one of my classes if it was a test. More than once I got a handout I had typed. 🙂
The other thing that my Dad taught me was how to find the answers. A skill that has really come in handy as I got older.
It began when my homework began to require more difficult things than match this or add that. I would ask my Dad a question and instead of giving me the answer he would tell me how I could find the answer.
Later, when I had to write papers and began working as a journalist, the skill came in very handy. One I still use today…along with the typing.
Over the years typewriters and researching has evolved from manual typewriters and card catalogues to electronic keyboards and global internet searches which certainly makes things much quicker and easier; but the required skills are the same.