“For a long time, even when I was going to school, we were taught that the structure of the human brain was basically fixed by the time we got to our early 20s. But it’s become clear in the last few decades that in fact, even the adult human brain is quite malleable. And our neural circuitry is kind of always in the process of adapting to circumstances and to environment and to the tools we use, particularly those for finding information and making sense of information.”–Nicholas Carr

While it may be common sense to have to try something before you can experience failure at it, many people feel the reverse effect: the onset of failure before there is even a chance to achieve any measurable results. Instead, we should first be asking ourselves what our goals are and further define what failure looks like so we can identify it before it is too late.

When looking at some of the things you might have abandoned or walked away from for one reason or another, take a minute to look at those things through the lens of my statement above. Suddenly, things take on a different shape and you might even start to feel differently about having regrets.

Some projects I’ve walked away from left me with feelings of deep regret at best to incredible angst and bitterness at worst. I’ve been at both ends of the spectrum.

But the “take-home” message here is that you should re-examine why you walked away from something and whether or not you gave it enough time to come to fruition. If you’re like me, you think analytically and have to have a reason for everything under the sun. That can be a downfall, but it doesn’t have to be. You can use that to your advantage.

Consider whether or not you took things far enough to see any measurable results and, even more importantly, whether or not you gave yourself any goals to begin with. A project without clearly-defined goals is a project destined for disappointment and possible failure. If you didn’t define any goals and you ended up walking away from a project prematurely, don’t fret. Do what I did. Learn from it and move on. Your next project will come together more clearly.

“What is really happening when you post a photo to Facebook? What about a tweet on Twitter? What about when you broadcast your location via Foursquare? You’re looking for attention and you’re looking for some kind of recognition/acknowledgement from your social graph. Many people will read this and think that’s a negative thing. It isn’t. Take a quick re-look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and you’ll quickly be reminded how important love, belonging, esteem and self-actualization is to our personal development. Social Media has an amazing way to solve the “look at me!” internal dialogue that we all have.”–Mitch Joel (I’m a Creep blog post)

Over the span of two months, I blogged nearly every day what I was experiencing as I traveled from Ethiopia to Uganda to Kenya and up to Sudan. The trip was life-changing to say the least. My eyes were opened wider than I thought was possible to the world around me. Images I will surely never forget.

I kept all of my writings in a notebook and haven’t read them since I returned because the range of emotion I experienced was so dramatic, especially upon returning to the States. That notebook has been gathering dust for 5 years. I am considering reposting those writings here on my blog in a special section, perhaps with some notes on what I think looking back. Is that something you would be interested in reading?

The future is coming at a faster pace than we can imagine. Ten years ago we thought technology was advancing fast. Now, technology is moving faster than we thought it ever would. And it shows no signs of slowing down. I chalk it up to the singularity. What is the singularity? Think of the singularity as compounding interest, except that in addition to the principal balance always increasing, so is the interest rate! And the further you go along the path into the future, the faster both are increasing. Eventually, you get to a point where the speed of both are increasing so fast you can no longer predict where they will be and the lines begin to blur. You’ve reached the singularity. Ray Kurzweil, the brilliant man behind the singularity theory, predicts we will reach this “zenith” around 2020. Machines will become as smart as humans and progress will be moving so fast we will not be able to keep up with it. Believe in the coming singularity or not, technology isn’t waiting for anyone.

Back to being a Web professional…

The days are gone where a person could survive as a generalist. Now, one has to be a specialist at whatever one does, and choose it wisely to avoid too much duplication with other professionals. And don’t get too comfortable in your specialty. Before you know it, everyone will be doing what you are doing and you will, once again, be forced to evolve into another specialty or sub-specialty of where you once started.

Think of a profession or specialty that has to do with the Web and I will show you a dead-end road to obsolescence. A one-way ticket to irrelevance. No longer can you survive doing the same thing you always did. The world of Web professionals is now diluted. The barriers to entry into most Web professions have been lowered to the point where it is harder and harder to compete and make a living.

I’m not complaining. After all, this is why I chose this profession. If you want excitement and aren’t afraid to work hard, being a web professional might be for you. Afraid of continual learning and 10-hour workdays and being a Web professional might not be your cup of tea.

The amazing thing about being a Web professional is that if you work for someone else, chances are you are either being held back technologically or dragging them screaming and kicking into the future. Consider yourself fortunate if you are freely able to pursue the advancements in your Web profession with support. This is what leads many web professionals into performing freelance work, myself included.

That leads me to where I am today. Now that I am beginning my graduate studies in August focusing on technology and international education, I am thinking more and more about how they will fit in with my web profession and the whole thought about technological progress. It is a hard pill to swallow, especially when your biggest fear is irrelevance in today’s world.

Where this will lead me, who knows. But one thing is for sure, I’m not going to stop learning and moving forward. I’m welcoming the future with open arms, even if I am kicking and screaming.

To close this post, allow me to repeat one of my favorite sayings that is printed on a bookmark always sitting on my desk near my monitor,

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle… when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

BTW, if you need any web work done, email me!