A Dracula sneeze is sneezing into your sleeve at your elbow rather than sneezing into your hands.

The dramatic full Dracula pose is a fun reminder of a more hygienic way to sneeze should you be caught without a tissue. Keeping your hands clean by catching sneezes or coughs in this way helps reduce the chance of spreading cold and flu germs.

However, the CDC’s preferred method for coughing and sneezing is to cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, throw it in the trash and wash your hands.

This sketch, updated and polished, features with a number of others in my book Big Ideas Little Pictures.

Dracula sneeze

A handy mental model to have in mind when you are learning, or teaching any skill. As I grow older I find that I realise the first step to conscious incompetence in pretty much every field I come across, and mark it as a happy achievement.

I was taught that a final step, for great teachers, takes you back to conscious competence. In other words, you are not just excellent at the skill, you are aware of what you do that makes you excellent, and are therefore able to teach it to others rather than just demonstrate.

Wikipedia does the source for the four stages of competence model better than I would do.

Stages of competence framework

And shorten the wait for everyone. It’s amazing to me how often everyone pays for forgetting there are two accessible sides to a buffet.

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Approach buffets from both sides