Don't Underestimate What You Can DoFriday, July 28, 2006I am not sure if we were taught to live within the box as children or if corporate life helped define the walls that trap us. I am sure some of you had parents that taught you that the sky is the limit. Some of you were taught that the sky is falling. Public school never did much to help me live outside of the box. Then again, neither did my parents. They remained very much in their comfort zone. I often ask my wife where I came from. I have never accepted that there is an imaginary boundary between me and the rest of the world. Deep inside of me lives the desire to reach my full potential. I am not there yet, but I will not rest until I get there. I can't accept the status quo. I see potential wherever I go. Carpe Diem is in my soul. I am not always successful, but my failures have taught me so much. I believe the best thing that happened to my second business venture was that it failed. I truly believed I was propelled to a different level of understanding as a result. Had it not failed, I would not have missed out on some important lessons that I needed to learn. These are lessons that I now carry forward to help me stay out of the box; willing and ready to accept the next challenge. 17 years ago, I was a song writer wannabe. Music was in my soul. I was getting married and the prospects of making a decent living writing music was bleak. I had a degree in Music Education and a resume that included several years of working retail selling appliances and electronics on commission. I did this as I chased my musical dreams. Not an impressive resume. In 1989, I quit my retail job to join a small company that sold home computers. Most people did not own a home computer in 1989, so I felt the opportunity was wide open. My first day I was greeted by the hiring manager and was informed that the two partners had a fight. She told me that she last saw some of the office computers being carried down the elevator by one of the partners. Not a great start I thought. The partner that stayed in the office and I talked several days later. He showed me the software that he was writing for a music booking agency. I was very intrigued. I was also out of a job before it even started. I asked him if I could play around with the program to learn more about programming. About a week later I bought my first PC, a 10mhz machine with 10 MB (not GB) hard drive and a 5 � floppy drive. I paid $1700.00 for it. Ouch! I started to teach myself how to program. I decided not to look for another job and live on fumes as I concentrated 8-10 hours a day on my new craft. I bought books, magazines anything I could get my hands on. After 8 months my wife and I were ready to experience a financial train wreck. We could no longer live on my wife's paycheck and so I got another retail job to pay the bills. This decision was hard for me mentally. I felt like I had taken a huge step backwards. Depression and feelings of inadequacy set in. I whined to my wife ad naseum about how I was going no where. One bleak morning at the furniture store, one of the corporate auditors arrived. After a morning of clicking on his calculator, he and I finally struck up a conversation about programming. I quickly discovered that he had a fair amount of programming experience. Then - the defining moment. He asked me why I was working in a used furniture store and not programming. He seemed incredulous. Why? How could I get a job as a programmer with a resume like mine? I had no experience and the boundary between me and a job in the corporate world was not something I had considered to be imaginary. I was limiting myself and not even aware of it. I told my wife what he said and eventually after another round of whining, she asked me when I was going to stop complaining go get a job as a programmer. I was afraid of being rejected. My wife's tough love helped me to search the paper for entry level jobs. After several months, I was hired as a programmer for a small company and offered less than I was making selling furniture. I didn't care about the salary. I saw the opportunity to get in the door that I thought was locked. I was excited. A year later I was asked to create a software development group and manage them. That was 16 years ago. The rest is history. Even though I lived outside of the box 16 years ago, it was easy to let disappointment and frustration stymie me. Never underestimate what you can do. I could never have imagined being where I am today, 16 years ago. I know I can't picture where I will be 16 years from today. As long as I refuse to live in my comfort zone, I will continue to grow. I will enjoy the benefits associated with thinking beyond what I can see. posted at 7/28/2006 08:00:00 AM |
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Copyright © 2006 Beat Your Own Drum
2 Comments:
You go Eric!
I figure neither Vince nor I will ever reach our full potential in this life...
because it's unlimited. ;-)
Kerrie,
Now if we only thought like that every day, imagine how much more we would accomplish!
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