You Want to Be…But You’re Not

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”

Zig Ziglar

I Know What I Want To Be Now

If you want it, you must try it. If you try it, you might like it. If you like it, you will keep on doing it. If you keep on doing it, you will become an expert. The first step is to try it. Ever wanted to do something and started, hit a bump, and then stopped? Yeah, me too.

I remember when I first saw raw code. It freaked me out. Still does from time to time. And mind you, I love to code. At first glance it seemed like Greek to me. It was incomprehensible. It was English, but funky English – like Pig Latin. From my first interaction with a computer, I had a urge to see behind the screen. How does this work. I had to find out. The search for an answer brought me to raw code. My first attempt and Greek bumped my head – hard. It took almost 15 years before I got back to looking at, let alone understanding code. Chicken…

Turns out code is not Greek. It’s a lot of lines of text with a bunch of symbols. I comprehend it. In early 2012 I was in the middle of a job hunt. Then it hit me. I saw the contracting secretarial market. Being a secretary could no longer be my only source of employment. 70% of my job search time was allocated to searching for a job. While 30% was allotted to researching non-administrative jobs. Not just any job; only those I might like to do. I took a ton of online “job IQ test”. Not one of them ever being helpful. Turns out 30% was enough time. I discovered W3School. And the rest was history. Or history in the making at any rate.

I Know What I Want To Be Now

It took some trail and err to narrow down my career path. I tried a few things. Through trying I had found a vocation that stuck. First try was interior decorating. I liked it. Clients drove me mad. No fit there. Then I tried offering my administrative services virtually. I have to confess I dig being a secy. However, after ditching interior decorating, I started learning how to code. I learned so much, I built my own website and then some.

While building the site, I found I out what wanted to be. I am a web designer. A web designer who still works as an admin. Coding took over. Now I just want to be a web (and a UX) designer. Now a try is tame compared to the actual pursuant of a dream. Yet, you must start somewhere. My mother use to say, “nothing beats a blank but a try”. If you are at the crossroad of a career change. Try something.

Even if it’s not a dream, just a fancy; try it. No first bump and quit. Try it until you either lose or feed your desire to do it. Your first blush is an effort. Trust me on that. You have no idea what you are getting yourself into. We make choices based on what we like. Nonetheless, everything has a plus and minus. Do not let a minus be the deciding factor. Give it a good ole college try. Then dump it if it’s not a fit. Now go and beat a blank with a try.