The world is divided in many different ways. One of the common divides today is between people who understand and embrace technology and those who resist and are fearful of it. I hear so many times the expression, “I’m just hopeless at IT”. These are the people who become frustrated at the sight of a new message on their laptop that they don’t understand and who tear their hair out after two minutes of inability to make something work. I know these people. I used to be one. However, I began to realise that labeling myself as an “IT tragic” was simply a way of staying stuck and I was gradually building a belief system that could well keep me in that lonely place (with all the other IT self-professed “gumbies” admittedly) – but it would hold me back in so many ways in a world that is moving at a lightning fast pace!
So I decided to change my attitude and welcome the challenge of finding solutions to problems as they arose. Setting up a new email address – easy, look at your existing accounts, call your provider if necessary but with a positive attitude of enquiry rather than complaint. Mac issues? Book in and pick someone’s brains at their shiny, buzzy stores. I ended up learning things I didn’t know. And if it is seemingly out of their realm of knowledge, guess what they do? Yes, google it! And the answer is usually there.
“It doesn’t make sense!” – not as we define sense making! This may seem like a preachy smug email from someone who has learnt enough to be dangerous in the world of IT but it is really a comment on how we restrict our lives and our thinking with labels we put on our selves that keep us from moving forward. It is no different from saying “I’m not good at exercise”, or “I can never lose weight”. And the implications of a belief that “IT is for the experts” is just as dangerous!
