Christopher S. Penn's Awaken Your Superhero - Latest Comments in Arguing against your limitations

Re: Arguing against your limitations

RalfLippold — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:45:19 -0000

Awesome words and so true!

Re: Arguing against your limitations

C G — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:39:07 -0000

Terrific read. Thanks to Jack Ng (@jacoutofthenox on Twitter) for sending this my way.
I agree that it's important to not let what someone perceives to be their possible limitations (race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, physical limiations, etc.) hold them back from getting out in the world and being "awesome". After all, we're all capable of greatness I feel, in little ways and big ways.

However, to say that race, gender, etc. aren't factors that influence the way people perceive you, or think of you, how you are raised, what kind of opportunities you have, etc. I think is a bit misleading to say the least. How can someone be "awesome" if an employer doesn't give them a chance because of their race? How can someone be "awesome" if they are hounded by security when going shopping for groceries? How can someone we "awesome" if they are rejected from a promotion because of their gender? These are very real-life limitations that exist in the world.

How can someone counter this? Fight for it of course. Be the best you can be. Believe in yourself and your abilities. Be your best "awesome". Fair argument, and I agree. But it's important to recognize that "awesome" can best be accomplished when you have an environment that is open to your ideas and who you are, no matter how you look, what color your skin is, what gender you identify with, and what you may (or may not) have between your legs. However, the "real world" doesn't work like that.

I've been lucky in that my parents have always raised me to believe in myself no matter what. However, I've also experienced what it is to be shunned because of who you are. Luckily, I have fought against it and have accomplished a lot of success in my life nonetheless. My parents taught me to always persevere, no matter what. But not everyone on this planet has parents and a support system that encourages such a mindset. Not everyone has opportunities that others have. Not everyone has the ability to fight for themselves, and believe in themselves because the world has been incredibly unkind to them.

Sure, be "awesome"---but if someone has consistently been told by the world that they're not, it's tough to rise above that. Not everyone has the capabilties to truly find out just how "awesome" they can truly be.

Just my two cents.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Jamie Favreau — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:13:42 -0000

I have to agree. I am hosting my first EVER event and I am a rookie in the field to say the least. I am hoping I have a strong enough network which can sustain this event. But you have to fail to succeed and if you try which is what I am trying... This is the ONLY way to succeed.

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.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Isabelle Lopez — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:11:06 -0000

thanks for being THAT clear :-)

Re: Arguing against your limitations

jlbraaten — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:17:22 -0000

Yeah, Chris, you go! I remember back in school we read a book called the Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Basically, it said, if you're oppressed, only you can change that. Anything else is a bandaid or even counter productive.

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.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

joannedunham — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:15:36 -0000

Powerful article. Thanks.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Susan Murphy — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:12:52 -0000

Wow wow wow. I'm so glad that you didn't hold anything back here, Chris. Too often us bloggers are so fearful of offending or "rocking the boat" that we hold back on things that really need to be said out loud. Thank you for telling us like it is.

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. :-)

Re: Arguing against your limitations

gradontripp — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:07:49 -0000

"Sure, Glenda does some fantastic stuff - but it is as a sole proprietorship whose specialty is accessibility."

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.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

simone — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:16:00 -0000

I think there's always room for one more competitor in any niche IF they are awesome. and the only way to be truly awesome over the long run is.... TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE!

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Jamie Pappas — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:55:09 -0000

Amen! I stole your Bach quote, too ;-)

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Teresa Basich — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:39:16 -0000

This post is friggin' ridiculous in the best way. Just the other day I was ripping into a couple of my best friends for constantly leaning on what they believe are limitations to keep them from being happy. I think maybe I'll just sent them a link to your post and call the conversation done.

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. :)

Re: Arguing against your limitations

David Clark — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:04:14 -0000

In my experience, the only "authentic disability" is that perceived limitations of others. Sure, Glenda does some fantastic stuff - but it is as a sole proprietorship whose specialty is accessibility.
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.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Christopher S. Penn — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:50:51 -0000

Not only is the deck stacked against women and minorities in the old rules and red ocean, but it's stacked against just about everyone. The people who prosper in the red ocean of old rules are Extremely Wealthy Old White Men, by and large, which is about as exclusive as you can get.

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.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Beth Dunn — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:36:27 -0000

Normally, I argue against this sort of thing, only because it obscures the very real systemic structures that do still exist that make it harder for women and minorities to succeed... but the key point here, I think, is that that statement holds if you restrict yourself to playing in the playground that they have set up. Their playground, their rules. True story: their rules were not designed to reward Awesome. Their rules were designed to reward other things, like Maintain Status Quo, in whatever way is most vital to their system. Where I have I seen this? Academia, politics, public school systems, the church (won't say which).

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.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Pat Alexander — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:02:26 -0000

This is an awesome post. I wish I had written it. I work with firms on defining and implementing new processes and so many firms and people are held back by the Red Ocean thoughts. I am so glad I found this post today. Thanks,

Re: Arguing against your limitations

whitneyhoffman — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:31:36 -0000

John Robison was at Podcamp. He has Asperger's Syndrome, yet he has had a remarkable life, and continues to do so, writing books, helping folks, helping researchers find out more about the disability. He doesn't let it limit him in any way.
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.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Chel Wolverton — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:36:20 -0000

I've always been too busy limiting myself for other reasons to attach it to being female.

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.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:26:50 -0000

Really great post. Very succinct and to the point. You, my friend, are awesome.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Rakiesha — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:15:57 -0000

I love it! Chris, you totally rock! Everything that you said at the outdoor session, and in this post, is so true and so awesome. The perceptions of barriers is what holds us back sometimes, especially in the digital realm where nothing is impossible. I've never heard of this idea of the blue vs. the red ocean. I like it though.

Man, oh man, I am SO glad that I was at PodCamp! Ha ha!

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Amber Naslund — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:11:08 -0000

I am so in love with this post. I actually wrote some similar thoughts today, by total coincidence, so I'm going to link back here. Out of my head, please. But THANK you for your articulate assessment of this. It's a topic that, by and large, bugs the shit out of me.

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Nathan Burke — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:47:26 -0000

Mr. Penn,
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

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Guido Stein — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:25:25 -0000

Going back to a podcamp 1 saying... everyone is a rock star...

Re: Arguing against your limitations

danieljohnsonjr — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:15:06 -0000

We are more than our (self-imposed) limitations. Rise above them now. Amen, @cspenn!

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Dave Van de Walle — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:50:07 -0000

Chris,

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!

Re: Arguing against your limitations

Diane DiResta — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:28:44 -0000

Great piece, Chris. I couldn't agree more. Loved your session at podcamp.