Session 7123: The Importance of Working Within The Limit

When we are encountered with difficulties, we all tend to dismiss the current situation and start to have "wishful thinking."

We happened to been having some computer performance issues. I have a friend who habitually say to this, "On mainframes, we don't have these kind of problems..."

In surfing too. We have a lot of excuses.

• Wish we were in
• Wish I had board.
  
• Wish the tide or wind is
• Wish I have started years ago.
• Wish I was younger.
• Wish I was born as a female surfer.
• Wish I was born as a male surfer.
• Wish I was a Shark.
  

I am guilty of thinking like that and catch myself doing it some times.

Back to my friend's situation. I know there still are a lot of main-frame COBOL shop. If he seriously think that that's the better world than he is in, I would suggest him to go to the COBOL shop. These days, with much less COBOL programmers around, I am sure he can command a high salary. Either that or grasp the reality of being here and now and deal with it.

Same with surfers. If you seriously wish that you had been in Hawaii, then yeah, go there, get a job. If that's the ticket for my ultimate happiness, I would go to Hawaii or Bali or whatever, and get a Hotel IT job.

For me though, the ultimate happiness, that I also need to remind myself, is to work within the limitation and see how far I can take the maximum advantage out of this limitation.

So we get a lot of close outs here. Why not learn how to ride them?

So if it is hard to get out, why not learn how to get out. There are plenty of others whom we can aspire to who'd been outside and catch 2 waves before we can get outside, right?

How about dealing with crowds. I've certainly tried to observe what happens in crowded situations and how to catch more waves than the surfers on your left and right. I now can do better at that than before. In fact, it is sort of gratifying "stealing" lots of waves from those who are still at early stage of learning curve; that I know they are not going to catch waves. It sounds a bit mean, but on the other hands, if they try, I am certain that they will progress to the point that they would be catching a lot more waves, probably in shorter time that it took me to get there.

And surf boards. I happen to have 8 different surf boards. I like each of the boards not because I started to hate one boar and gotten the next. I really enjoy the "taste" of each board. Like guitars and motorcycles, they just "play" differently. But I feel that there are so much of "The board does not give me the ride I want." attitude around.

I am hoping that each and every one of you will catch yourself saying "I hate this.", "It is better with some thing or somewhere else." Instead, try to accept what you got, what your situation is, then make the best out of it, innovate and also point out to me any time in the future I am starting to fall in that trap.

People have created a master price novel without just a typewriter, and some have created a fine art with just charcoal on paper.

Let's get on to it!

Surf Report

Surfing could have been more fun this morning at a local hollow spot. I wish that the tide was a bit low and I wish I had a more floaty board, and I am going to regret the rest of my life that I wish I had a job that I could go out a bit later when the tide was higher, and that I had a carbon fibre hollow quad fish so that I could have caught more waves....