Roadblocks

image: improveconsulting.biz

I am currently participating in Microsoft Imagine Cup competition as a judge. I am evaluating the software ideas and execution of university students across the world. I am amazed by how much they already know technically. Things I have been trying to know for over 5 years, they have been able to grasp extremely well while still in school. 

There are many days I ask myself why it is taking me too long to learn web development. Like am I now dumb at learning or is it that very difficult? Comfortingly, I believe it is because of the latter. It is extremely difficult. But not only that, I am also very pressed for time. There are too many times demanding my attention, such that I can't put in as much dedicated time as I would have when I too was a student.

I face a lot of roadblocks. I am learning, but not fast enough because I am having to learn too many things at the same time. And also having to earn. It is like the days are very short and the week runs out really fast.

My work has turned me into a tool. Good specifically for some tasks. I can look at data and see what most people won't see. I can do in 3 hours what it would take a sales analyst 5 days to do. I can debug Excel VBA programs over phone. I can solve Excel issues without being there or in front of my PC. I know too much about Excel and it has taken up too much space in my life. And it is my roadblock number 1 to learning web development, the future for my business.

It is very difficult to earn and learn from different fields at the same time. When it was only Excel I was interested in, learning was very easy. I was basically learning off the live projects I got. Sometimes I look through my past projects and wonder how I managed to do something that complex in Excel. Now, learning is very difficult when it is in a field I do not earn in. I am not able to dedicate as much time and mind to web development. And that is my roadblock number 2.

I have been lucky to find the key to turn knowledge into business. I am now good at getting marketplace attention in any field I want. I have earned from all kind of services I sold -- even ones I can't mention on my blog. Till now I am still struggling to get clients off me for the services I don't want to provide any more. It has not being very easy. I get too much attention than I want or is healthy for me. And that is my roadblock number 3. Time I could be spending doing the things I really want are taken up by requests I don't want to tend to anymore.

I really hope Henry Ford was right when he said, "Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you  take your eyes off the goal." So if I focus more on my goal, the roadblocks should disappear. I hope.