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I have been politely and probably correctly been taken to task on these pages for over-thinking stuff. And, I have responded Today, luckily, I have been found guilty of the above crime. Going over and over the levels for the piling mat and subsequent foundations - and getting errors - I decided to do some of the simple things that coders are taught to find errors in JavaScript or Flash Action Script. Print the levels out on a separate piece of paper. Read them 'differently' Make a separate sketch diagram : compare that with what you've got Annotate the diagrams you have got : use a pencil - don't look at the screen Go away and have a cup of tea and walk the dogs : forget the damn thing Sleep on it: and try not to let the niggle keep you awake : fail Sod it: email the architect - 'I expect I'm making some sort of stupid error, so would you help me .... this is what I have done to try and solve the problem for myself.....' 'Yes, here's the diagram... not to worry, this has the correct levels on it' I had been looking at 1100.D.7 for a few weeks. The correct file to look at was 1100.D.7B I know all the levels off by heart now........ FFL 27.650, Piling mat level 27525, Top of Pile 26925, Top of Pile Cap 27225. I could go on. Good for the soul this kind of stuff. Good for the soul.

I'm sometimes accused of overthinking stuff. And I'm a little weary of it. Here's why. Expert status in many areas is thought to develop after about 50,000 hours of practice. And one of the common characteristics of expert status is the reduced need to think about the hard-learned craft or subject. It (irrespective of subject matter) becomes hard wired. Take my digger. Just bought it a few weeks ago and while using it in the first couple of hours I was like a cat on a hot tin roof. My shoulders ached, my jaw was locked, my concentration fierce. And then I remembered my flying lessons. 'Think it, and it'll happen, lad' growled the instructor. And when the fear had dropped a bit, I allowed myself to relax and reduce the control inputs. Suddenly I wasn't dancing all over the sky like the proverbial in a pot. On the digger, I reduced the control input and slowly the swing was not so large, not so jerky. Then Ed (Construction Channel) said it would take about 4 hours to get a basic understanding. He was right. That was a fortnight or so ago. Now, I couldn't tell you what I do to hook a self-hitch bucket, Now I get annoyed at myself for 'clangy' bucket movements. Slowly I have stopped thinking about it. I just feel it. The next step is over-confidence (pilots call it the Death Zone -about 200 hours into their training). Now, I don't think I'm going to die while using a digger, but I'm going to be extra vigilant in a month or two. After many hours of practice, experts (it's a well-documented phenomenon) simply don't remember that they had to learn stuff. And sometimes are just a little puzzled by someone who asks apparently naive questions. And then -with kindness and reassurance at the root of their response- reply that the questioner is over-thinking it. No, all the questioner is doing is sharing their worry, their lack of expertise, their lack of practice.