Wonderful quote from Herbert Simon

Herbert Simon on the difference between the expert and the novice:

“A large part of the difference between the experienced decision maker and the novice in these situations is not any particular intangible like “judgment” or “intuition.” If one could open the lid, so to speak, and see what was in the head of the experienced decision maker, one would find that he had at his disposal repertoires of possible actions; that he had checklists of things to think about before he acted; and that he had mechanisms in his mind to evoke these, and bring these to his conscious attention when the situations for decisions arose.”

When teaching the Observation Skills courses (Part 1 and Part 2), one goal is to help students develop the skills that a more experienced trainer (decision maker) would use when working with a dog.

As I often say, even the world’s most skilled neuro-surgeon was just like you: a baby who pooped in their diaper and put their feet in their mouth. Bit by bit, that baby learned new skills, and was taught by others who knew how to make decisions. All of us have the capacity to become highly skilled practitioners of any field if we have skillful guidance from a knowledgeable instructor AND we are diligent in our practice, which is usually lifelong.