Thinking back to High School, I can remember (vividly) not doing so well in my Freshman and Sophomore years. In fact if you based my future on what I did and was able to accomplish in these 2 years, you’d see me pushing a grocery cart up and down the street each day and searching the trash cans for food. I can remember always being compared to others who were doing so well (that was helpful) and my parents drilling me as to why I couldn’t be like so-and-so. What did these people know that I didn’t? Why was I unable to understand simple Algebra and Geometry? Because I was such a screw-up, my teachers refused to help thinking I wasn’t serious about learning. In reality, I just couldn’t connect the dots. And all those people who were so smart….I was jealous of the knowledge they had and their ability to understand what I believed to be difficult concepts. You may be feeling the same way when you look at all that it takes to be successful on the internet. In reality, it can be very overwhelming.
Now my Junior and Senior years were very different. Honor Roll Student every semester. Able to be seen in circles that I was not previously welcome in. Was even able to relate well with a number of teachers. What changed? Was I suddenly smarter? Did some alien force zap me with a smart ray and change my abilities? Nope. All that happened was that I found something that helped me to connect the dots.
Simply being able to connect the dots eliminated obstacles that seemed huge and overwhelming. Being able to connect the dots changes attitudes about what you can achieve and your ability to succeed. Overcoming what had previously been a huge obstacle, now allowed me to learn new things. I was able to develop skills that allowed me to not only learn, but share what I learned. Skills that allowed me to look deep into the problems that were before me and ferret out a solution.
I’m betting you have developed similar skills. But guess what, there are millions of people out there that lack knowledge that you have. Knowledge that you can share with them. For instance, I trying to decide what to watch on TV last evening and I remembered a series of commercial headlines that had been running all week for a Dateline special on NBC about the Birth of Jesus. The commercials went something like this:
Of all the stories ever told, the Nativity is one of the most celebrated.
In a special edition of 'Dateline NBC,' Keith Morrison asks,
"What if everything you thought you knew wasn’t the whole story?"
I had to watch! They were going to give me special knowledge about a subject that I didn’t have. Turns out I was able to learn one interesting comparison between Moses and Jesus that I had never thought about. The rest I had pretty much learned over time because it was a subject I had been interested in. Was I disappointed that I knew most of the stuff already? No. Why? Because it is reinforcement of knowledge I already have. Presented differently, it built on my ability to understand and communicate the information to others.
So back to the dot connection thing that happened to me before my Junior year. What made the difference? It’s actually very simple. I developed an interest in something that fascinated me. This was in 1972 when the mainframe computer was starting to be used by businesses. Electronics was emerging to become a key vehicle to business success. New industry was springing up everywhere to support the production of new gadgets and tools that would take our society to the next level. The first digital calculators were starting to hit the store shelves. My interest in electronics caused me to strongly desire to know and understand how things worked. I was seeking any and all knowledge having to do with electronics. I enrolled in the Electronic classes at our technical school adjacent to the High School. They provided me with real life examples and applications for Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, & Calculus. They had knowledge I didn’t have and wanted! Nothing could stop my pursuit of success in this area. I had to know more….