My Reflection
Dashboard week has become infamous within The Data School. When I would mention it to past data schoolers. Some would smile and explain how ‘it’s a tough week, but you learn a lot.’ Others describe as ‘a week from hell’. But If I were to describe it in a sentence, I would say it’s a welcome challenge where you learn a lot about how you work and how to think quickly/on the fly.
That’s the beauty of dashboard week. Everyone has a different perspective of what it means to them. I’m going to go a but deeper and reflect on how dashboard week was for me.
Mentality
Dashboard Week taught me a lot. Namely it confirmed how my attitude and mood is heavily tied to my performance at work. This was something I realised applied to when I was competing in athletics. If I didn’t believe in myself and wasn’t attacking the race with a positive mindset, I would always underperform. I would start to tense up and my technique would fall apart and so would the race. This transfers over to my performance as an analyst, it’s very much like a race. My preparation is just as important as race day.
I also realised when I cut out doing things which are good for my mental health like moving my body, my performance takes a dive. I didn’t have a lot of time to go to the gym, and I felt in my mental clarity. It made me realise it was very important to do things which were good for my mental health, even if they took time away from the task.
Preparation
The second thing I learnt from dashboard week, was preparation is just as important as ‘race day’. This became much more apparent in the last 2 days of the week.
When it came to athletics, ensuring I’m eating enough and getting adequate sleep were paramount to performance. I’ve realised for myself, the case is the same with work as an analyst.
My first thought when I started working in an office was that it would be way less tiring compared to hospitality. As it was a lot less physically demanding. My presumption became glaringly wrong during dashboard week. I didn’t realise how important sleeping and eating was to mental performance. I knew they were important, but I didn’t quite realise the impact.
In the latter half of the week, I noticed the significance of adequate sleep and nutrition. This was because I noticed I was becoming less productive and in turn meant longer days to get the same amount of work done. This caused a chain reaction of missing sleep and meals which really cause everything to come crashing down on Friday. That, however, was a great lesson learnt.
Recovery
The last thing that dashboard week taught me was the importance of working smarter and not harder. Which tends to overlap with preparation.
When I was training for athletics, I learnt the importance of not overworking myself. When it came to training, a good coach would tell you that recovery is just as important as training. This applied to me falling into the habit of not taking adequate breaks during the day.
I’m a big advocate of working smarter not harder and which means taking breaks when you’re stuck on a problem. I for example, like going for a quick 5-minute walk when possible. This gives me a chance to get the blood circulating and get some fresh air.
Taking a break can also mean asking for help. If you’re stuck in a loop there in no harm in asking for help. whether it’s some with more experience or just asking someone for a new perspective.
Final Thoughts
Dashboard week taught me a lot. It taught me how to create insightful dashboards when under time constraints. It taught me loads of technical skills within Power BI and Tableau that I had to learn on the fly. The most important thing I learnt however, was how to work effectively as a data analyst and how I can perform at my best.
