It’s been a while since I have posted an article, and it’s not for lack of content, I have a few articles that I have written, I just wasn’t ready to post them. Over the last several months I have gained lots of followers, and I really appreciate your connections. When I first started, it was more about sharing my big picture perspective with anyone who was interested. With my initial intended audience being my children, so that they get a sense of who I am as a scientist, not just their dad. My articles range from career advice to technical aspects of analytical instrumentation, and I am very humbled by the caliber of professionals who follow me. So, it is very important to me that I do not waste your time and write something that can somehow affect you all in a positive way.
Today I want to write about challenges. We all have challenges, if you think about it, life is nothing but one challenge after another, starting with conception! Any parent knows that conceiving is not easy, we struggled for years before finally conceiving, life truly is a miracle and a blessing from GOD.
The challenges we encounter in our life are what help us to develop our skills. I recently investigated training AI, and if you are not aware, AI is trained by creating a challenge that makes it fail. I found this fascinating. You would think that all you must do to train AI is to feed it textbooks, and you would be done, but the fact of the matter is that you must teach it to reason, teach it to analyze the data and how to apply it to a solution. As surprised as I was at the strategy, it makes perfect sense. Think about your favorite game, it is likely something that is a natural skill of yours, which is why you keep playing, even if it is hard. You know you can win, and you won’t give up till you do.
When we think of our kids, we know the challenges we went through, and we hope that they will never experience the challenges we have. We shield them, protect them, and try to set them up for success. Unfortunately, this rarely works, in fact it can have the opposite effect. We apply so much pressure to them that they feel like failures when they don’t do it our way. They need their own personal challenge so that they can develop their own personal skills, it’s that simple. There is a movie that came out several years ago called Zootopia, I love this movie, great for kids. I especially love the theme song “Try Everything” (link is to the official video, here are the lyrics, it’s a beautiful message for all of us.). If you have kids, do yourself a favor and watch the movie with them.
As I said, I am humbled by the people following me. I imagine that I may be saying something out loud that people have been thinking quietly about, things they would love to say, but can’t. I understand why, people in your workplace would tend to not appreciate it. It is different and therefore must be wrong. There is a tremendous inertia to do things the way we have always done them, even though there are better ways. People will wrap themselves up in a blanket of inefficiency and get cozy, if you try to take that blanket from them, they will not take kindly to you. Mark Twain once said, “it is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled”, it is very true!
Some people have flattered me by calling me an innovator. It is very interesting to me that many companies will make innovation a priority, demand it even, but when faced with innovation, they reject it. The problem with innovation is that by definition, innovation means different, novel. People don’t understand different, they don’t like different, they want the same, just better, not different.
So, it’s not enough to be innovative, you also must be creative, you have to be a subject matter expert, and most importantly, you have to be resilient. Your resilience will determine your ability to succeed. You must be so sure of your ideas that you are willing to put your job on the line, because you know you could easily take your idea to someone else who would appreciate it. While I appreciate the kind words from my colleagues, and their support, I think that resilient is the word that best describes me, and if somehow, I can help you be more resilient, I would be honored.
I once was talking to my children about life. I gave the example of a rock you might find on a river bed. When you pick up this rock it is smooth, it feels so good to touch that you want to rub your fingers over it, you may even find it soothing. Imagine if that rock was a person, and the river the challenges, gently washing away all the imperfections, must be nice. If I was a rock, my challenges were definitely not a river, they were other bigger, harder rocks that were constantly being thrown at me, breaking away chunks of imperfections, until finally getting to the solid core that ceased to break, but would definitely get sharper, eventually becoming so sharp you were afraid to touch it because you might get cut. The problem I had was I had to learn how to exist without cutting anyone. There is an old saying that says, when you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If you have ever purchased a sharp knife, you can’t help but find something to cut, there is something so satisfying about it. Sharp objects can be dangerous, but in skilled hands they can be very powerful tools, not just weapons. Think of a skilled surgeon saving lives by precisely cutting away a tumor, or an artist carving out a statue.
We all have had our own personal challenges, if you think about it, these challenges are what revealed your superpower. Sometimes we are so busy battling the challenges that we miss the point. Remember The Karate Kid movie, where Mr. Miyagi has Daniel wax his cars, and specifically shows him how to “wax on, wax off” (link is to the extended scene). Daniel got very frustrated and angry when he was done, he wanted to begin his training, not be a servant. Then he found out he was training all along.
We are all in training every day, we just don’t know it. Don’t get distracted by the challenges, embrace the challenges. Whether or not your efforts are appreciated is not the point, an “attaboy” is quickly forgotten. The skills you gain are yours for the rest of your life and can be applied wherever you go. When you master your craft, it is obvious to others, and the right job will come around when you need it. GOD has a way of providing you with the best opportunities, you just need to be on the right path so you can find them. Bring on the challenges and try everything!