Pushing myself to go places I haven’t before

These last couple months have been unlike any I’ve experienced.  I’ve watched the economy tank.  I’ve watched suffering and division and pain.  I’ve seen some retreat into themselves.  I’ve done it myself at times.  What I did differently was signed up for a business course in order to push myself beyond what I thought I could do.

I knew going into this that I would face resistance, but not to the degree I have so far.  First, I decided to move closer to my kids right before a lockdown.  The options were sparse.  It took weeks to find something that had what I needed.  I had 2 deals fall through after inspections.  This while I took my first go at the business course.

I relented and decided to delay the course a month to move and get settled in.  I had already pushed myself into vlogging and putting myself out there when my instinct was to continue status quo.  I had succumbed to resistance a little.  Once I had restarted the course and then moved, I hit my next major bout of resistance.  I was behind in the course again after finishing the moving process. 

And here I am today.  This time, I want to push myself.  I have 20 years of SQL knowledge in my head and the opportunity to help many people instead of only contracting.  I want to give back after having gotten so much from the SQL community over the years.  That’s why I am working on a course about SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT). 

When I presented at SQL Saturday 2017 on the subject, too many had not heard of SSDT.  As I’d honed unit testing, deployments and coding styles in the tool, a good chunk of the SQL Devs out there hadn’t even heard of it.  So, my goal is to push myself over the finish line and offer SSDT training to people and finish this business course.  Not only to package up my knowledge about the tool, but to do something during this crisis.  To model for my kids and to prove to myself that I can do it.

This all may sound cliché, but a lot of us indies are IT people first.  We just took an extra step to go out on our own.  That being said, I hope to encourage others to go out and take some risks.  I don’t want to hide in my house and squander my capability.  Lastly, if you are thinking of doing something on your own and are in the IT industry, I’d love to talk with you and see how I can help.

We are more capable than we think.  Sometimes it takes finding others who will push you outside of your comfort zone.  I am, myself, but I hope to say it was all worth it in a few more weeks.