UPDATE 07.25.08: The man who inspired my post in May (below) passed away today. I know that Randy would not want us to be sad; but to view his video and celebrate and live our lives as he did.
I usually don’t post on Fridays, however, today I found out about Randy Pausch and I have to share his story with you now. Watch his “last lecture” and tell me if you are not inspired to go for your dreams, no matter how difficult, how intimidating, how much of a hassle doing so may seem at the moment.
During my online adventure spanning the last 12 years I have had some pretty darn aggravating days. Days where things didn’t work as I expected, scripts throwing errors and applications not working for no apparent reason.
So I understand the frustration of not understanding how things work or not having them work as easily as one would prefer. New environments, new applications, new combinations, new control panels, new technology comes out every day. There will be glitches, there will be new things to learn and there will always be new problems to solve. Technology requires one embrace new concepts.
That is part and parcel of participating online. Every day is a new adventure and one has to be open to learning, willing to try and comprehend that what they perceive as a glitch may not be a glitch at all. Or that application which may not be working as you presumed it should, is not actually broken, but just that you may not yet understand how to utilize it properly.
When you find yourself in these situations, look at it as an opportunity to learn! Don’t point fingers at others claiming something is wrong or complain that things are not as easy as you prefer. You won’t get anywhere with that attitude.
Before you point fingers or claim something is broken, take a deep breath and start over and go through whatever is challenging you at the moment. You most likely will find that you overlooked a feature, Submit or Save button to accomplish what you would like.
Considering the complexity in the background that brings this wonderful technology to our desktops every day, learning how to use sites, features, new control panels and tools are actually a piece of cake. It really doesn’t get any easier than this!
I love inspirational quotes and have them on almost every page of my site. I really believe that when the right quote comes around at right time it can motivate, encourage and many times embolden people to be better than assume they can be.
With that in mind, here are some of my favorite words of wisdom from the Napoleon Hill Foundation:
“The person who complains that he or she never had a chance probably hasn’t the courage to take a chance.
Thomas Edison once observed that the reason most folks don’t recognize opportunity when it comes along is that it is often dressed in coveralls and looks like work. Often opportunity involves a great deal of work and a willingness to take a chance on something, the outcome of which may be uncertain. Eventually you reach a point when you must either accept an opportunity with all of its unknowns or else turn your back on it. No one can tell you when you have reached that point; you alone know when it’s time to make your move, to have the courage to take a chance.”
This quote sums up the attitude one must have when starting a business online. There are no guarantees; nothing is in stone. Opportunities abound filled with unknowns that require a great deal of work. And many times the only catalyst is having the courage to make things happen.
