-
Website
http://www.ChristopherSPenn.com/ -
Original page
http://www.christopherspenn.com/2009/08/11/arguing-against-your-limitations/ -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
-
Top Commenters
-
Popular Threads
All Comments
Side note: in case you're wondering why you might have this problem in the first place, here are 5 Reasons You're Not Awesome:
http://www.justinkownacki.com/2009/08/11/5-reas...
Though not impossible, it is still much easier (and can be done with much less competence) to "be the part" when you look the part.
Curious: would you put disability in your last sentence?
Even disability doesn't have to be something that shuts you down. Ask Glenda Watson Hyatt. Go check her stuff out at www.doitmyselfblog.com
Personally, I strive to be a developer with a disability and not a disabled programmer. Though I have extensive (and personal) accessibility expertise, I am also a damn good developer. No matter how strong one's resume is (and mine is strong) it is excruciatingly difficult to get past the initial phone-screen with recruiter or hiring manager.
That's the blue ocean Christopher's talking about. Glenda picked a niche, worked her ass off and became the best at it.
You're a damn good developer. What's stopping you from going solo in a niche that you can own? Nothing but your own perceived limitations.
Get over 'em and rock the show.
I understand I do not have the genetic gifts that make a life of professional basketball possible, being a 5 ft. 3 inch female, so instead, I use what i have to maximize my potential- and that'[s what we all have to do- play the cards we have, rather than wish we were dealt a new hand.
One of the most intriguing moments of PodCamp for me happened in my head. It was during the discussion you led on Sunday, when for the first time since I've known you, I thought, hey, Chris Penn's Asian-American. It was a strange moment because I realized your strength of identity completely overwhelms any racial lens I might have imposed on you otherwise. And that is what your post means to me - you are so incredible it never even occurred to me to judge based on race.
Oh, and I'm a chick I spose. Lol what's between my legs again? Let me check ...
As usual, a great piece that weaves together a number of different points and does so really well.
Being "awesome" is subjective, sure. But you don't have to be awesome at being awesome; you can simply be awesome at some niche that is unexplored, and be either the only one attached to it (category dominance = perceived awesomeness) OR be better than the others who haven't presented their capabilities as well as you can.
Go get 'em!
Well said, my friend. Well said. I'm pretty sick of what @sarahwurrey was calling the "oppression olympics" whereby a game of one-upmanship (or one-downmanship, maybe) happens every time the issue of race, gender, etc. comes up in a conversation.
Truth is, if we want to spend all of our time giving reasons why we aren't succeeding...why we aren't doing awesome, that's great. The people that ARE doing awesome will have less competition that way.
One of my favorite movies is "American Movie" a documentary about a guy that wants nothing else but to make an independent horror movie. He has no real skill, no money, and his entire family doesn't believe in him. But he makes it happen. And one of my favorite quotes from it deals with excuses:
"There's no excuses. No one has ever paid admission to see an excuse. No one has ever faced a black screen that says, 'Well, if we had these set of circumstances we would have shot this scene, so please forgive us and use your imagination.' I've been to the movies hundreds of times, that's never occurred." - Mark Borchardt, American Movie
A
Man, oh man, I am SO glad that I was at PodCamp! Ha ha!
I've never seen being female as something holding me back. I'll admit some curiosity to what the deal is, because as much as "men don't get it", I don't either.
If you don't say, "I don't care what anyone thinks, I can do this, I don't need permission", you'll never get past any limitations because you're putting those limitations on yourself.
All I've known for the past 3 1/2 years is you can do this, it's about working hard to get where you want to be and facing your fears, once you do that you won't be limited in any way. And that from a man who is my closest friend.
Stop talking about why you aren't succeeding and start working hard on what will help you climb that mountain or open that door.
But it's your point about the Blue Ocean that makes this a different argument altogether. I think that part of what we are doing here (take that how you will) is creating an alternate structure with alternate rules. The rules here (work from home, project-based work, asynchronous work) tend to obscure the attributes against which the rules on the old playground are rigged -- gender, race, religion, all tend to take a bask seat to... Awesome. To results. To Getting It Done.
This honestly isn't the case yet if you place yourself in the red ocean of many traditional corporate settings. So let's not. I agree. Let's continue to make it so that Awesome is center-stage. But let's not fool ourselves that this has always been the case, or that systemic structures and processes don't exist that make this hard elsewhere.
The key is the blue ocean concept. The key is to go your own way, chart your own course, and refuse to play by the rules that might disadvantage you, because they are to nobody's benefit -- not even the people who made them.
Old, young, black, white, man, woman - unless you're in that club, you're fighting the sharks, so swim elsewhere. That's the beauty of new media - disruption means new waters to explore entirely, while the old sharks wonder where all the food is going. Eventually the sharks in the old rules and red ocean will have nothing to eat except each other.
Don't play by anyone else's rules if you can avoid it.
Really, this is a lesson that can be driven home enough. Thank you for writing so eloquently on how awesome we all can be when we stop making excuses and give ourselves the chance. :)
Self-imposed limitations are nothing more than excuses we make up for being afraid. It's easy and a cop-out to say "I can't do this because I'm a __________." We label ourselves and that gives us what we perceive to be a fine excuse, because Heaven forbid we should ever admit to being afraid!
Conquering fear of the unknown, of failure, of success...that's the key to forgetting about limitations. And the best way to conquer fear - suck it up and do it anyway. I spend much of my time sucking it up and getting over myself. It's about the only way I know of to continue to move forward, to grow and to be successful.
You, my friend, rock. :-)
Your post today was simply great. If you're awesome and smart, good things will come. What's that say then? Have faith in yourself and do your homework. Anyone can be awesome and smart.
Journchat is a controversial topic which is going to make it a challenge. This is fine because we need to fail to succeed and to learn. If you don't try, you will never know. I am hoping #journchat LIVE Detroit http://bit.ly/GVO3k rocks out.
You have to get over your fears, create something and just help make this world a better place. Even in Detroit something good can happen. We just need to be the difference.