Crossroads
Life is the great adventure. At times it can also be a bit perplexing, like how do you know when you’ve turned a corner in your career? Especially in these interesting times when social media is attracting so much attention, but has so little meaning in the “real world”.
Exploration of blogging and connecting people is a lot of hard, but rewarding work. It can sometimes be challenging to keep up with both the real work and the need to connect with people and learn new things as a human being. Where is the reward for all this work?
That’s where I’m at right now. I’m a technology geek that’s really good at big-picture problem solving – been doing that for 20 years. However, I’ve spent the last two or three years learning that I like interacting with people and seeing them connect with peers to accomplish new things. I have no pretensions that I’m critical to any of this, only that I enjoy it.
So what’s the next step? I blogged about that awhile ago, and am becoming more convinced that, for me, a move towards blog consulting and working with corporate blogging efforts is needed. It’s one direction that I’ve been exploring and I see many possibilities of such a shift. Especially as new discussions of blogging and it’s value have again started turning up in the blogosphere and the MSM again. Of course it’s what we’ve always known about new media, it’s just people taking another look at a disrupting technology rather than dismissing it.
Most bloggers start blogging for many reasons, I happened to start because I needed an outlet. (Blogging friend Steven Hodson has a great related post titled What do I owe my readers? that I recommend reading as well.) I also started a couple other blogs because I thought (like many) that it was an easier way to make a living. I’ve since figured it out that it’s really very hard work that requires a substantial time investment. However instead of the monetary payoff I thought I’d find, it turned into something that I’m passionate about.
After a few years of blogging and trying to find my path, I realized that I’d been following it fairly well but hesitant to commit to exploring it. I’ve been holding back from what lies over the edge. It’s something I now need to explore vigorously.
The biggest thing I’ve discovered that brings me to the crossroad I mention is that I like to teach, to share. I really enjoy communicating technology and concepts to people to help solve a problem or grow their opportunities. It’s an incredible feeling to see the connection made, a concept take root and someone realizes something they didn’t the moment before.
It reminds me of a moment in art class back in 9th grade. There was another student who was having problems getting the perspective “just right” on a drawing of his family’s farmstead that he was working on. He said that it just didn’t “feel right” in his drawing and thought that the silo would look better on the other side of the drive leading up to the barn. So our art teacher looked up from the picture at him and said “so…, move it”. I saw it in my classmate’s face, he got it. He suddenly looked around the room and proclaimed (loudly I may add) “I CAN MOVE BUILDINGS!”
I’m sure you’ve seen something similar, but it’s that moment of realization that is what I want more people to experience with technology. To understand what I’ve known for years. To see the usefulness of the technology, and not for the technology itself, but because it actually solves a need or problem. That is one of the things I want to do.
The work I’ve don to date has been fulfilling and rewarding. It’s taught me many things outside the scope of technology. It’s pushed me in all the typical, usual business-oriented things that any cube-dwelling, corporate ladder climbing individual might need. It did not, however, bring the warmth and excitement to my heart of seeing just one person “get it”.
That is what I believe I need to do – help people have those moments, help them connect with peers to make that happen, and be there as a resource along the way.
Photo credit: Zeitspuren
