Choosing to Be-->

I had a meeting with someone today who just wanted to talk to me about being a web developer, about Nashville and about life in general it seems. I don’t really know this person. They emailed me out of nowhere and wanted to talk to me in person. The guy was in the print industry for a long time and has been trying to learn programming and wanted some advice. His wife lives here in Nashville and he lives in Atlanta while he’s looking for a job. A lot of what we talked about was him wanting to break in to a new industry without any experience in that industry. I felt it would be useful to give him advice since I’ve had plenty of people that have given me advice and helped me become who I am today. Though I’m busy I really think it’s important to share the knowledge you have with people when you can afford to. By sharing your knowledge with people you will in turn have others share their knowledge with you and so the cycle will continue.

So, I guess the turning point in the conversation for him is I told him that he has to choose to be a web developer and decide that he is one. At that point he will act as if he is one and all the right things will fall in to place. I think a lot of people fail on the point that they wait for something to happen before they can ‘be’ something. You could be included in this if you have ever said:

1. I get this figured out or finish school I will be ___________ .


2. When I get this new project I will be __________.


3. When I get done with this I will be __________.

Now, you can fill in any adjective you want above in those blanks. You can even fill nouns. For example the thought that you aren’t a programmer until you get a job programming or finish school for programming is invalid. One day I woke up and decided I was a programmer. One day I woke up and decided I was a poet. One day I woke up and decided I was a businessman. I didn’t really require an external event to prove to me that I was. External events reinforce the belief that I am what I believe I am. When I wake up I choose to be happy or not happy. Events throughout the day make that feeling less or more but the fact I have already chosen to be gives me some resilience and some template to work from. Belief tends to drive the human life.

It has been my observation that people only feel worthy of something positive if they have expended the necessary social rituals or had some events happen to them so they claim they can be __________ . However, those who just choose to be and act as if will just as easy, if not easier, become so inclined. Okay, sounds a bit easier than it may be for you. It’s a paradigm shift, for sure. Start with something easy. Close your eyes in the morning when you wake up and decide to be upset. This is easy, because a lot of people act angry when they want attention. So, act angry. Go throughout your day being angry. Find reasons to be angry and make it present. You will find it was really easy to be angry. The next day close your eyes and decide to be happy… think of happy things. Good, now go throughout your day doing thing that make you more happy and build upon that initial mood you have chosen. It’s a lot easier to take control of your life than you think.

This applies to most profession switches. Wake up one morning and choose to be a programmer. Write code, learn code and visit forums where other programmers are and read what they write. Participate if you can and make programmer friends. Call up or visit a programmer you know and talk to them about programming news you read… you may not understand it all but you will learn much more quickly. It may not feel natural at first but you will grow in to it much more easily. If you act as if then so you will be. It has to feel real to you though. If you can’t enjoy what you do then it may not be for you. For a profession change you may need a degree in some cases but at least taking on the role of feeling like you are already there will put you in the right place. Being around others in the profession could lead to an opportunity for you to make cash at it and really make it your career.

Immersion is the best way to learn a new language the same way immersion is the best way to learn anything.