Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
Networking can seem to take an awful lot of time – especially if you're new to it. Businesses cards, emails, meetups, seminars – it all adds up. Networking can end up looking like a giant time consuming drag, an endless drudge hoping to find that one right contact.
Actually, networking is not about extensive activities, endless emails, and all that. Networking is about the power of five minutes.
I like to use the things I geek out over in my career, which is somewhat obvious by the fact I help run a blog about the very subject. I'm a big advocate that hobbies, jobs, and interests really should be mostly the same thing.
However, it's too easy to get caught up in our own obsessions, our own geeky, our own fanning. Sure we can learn a lot from our obsession with video games, our passion for digital art, and our interest in writing.
However if you really want to be a passionate fan-to-pro type you need to study the geekery of others.
Are you ready to face the challenges for your career? For your life's dream? Are you ready to walk through the metaphorical obstacle course of your perfect job (unless it's not metaphorical)?
Are you sure you're ready?
If you want to face down the challenges of following your profan/progeek/protaku dream job, I recommend practicing dealing with inconvenience by inconveniencing yourself.
The more you work to deal with challenges on your own terms, the more you test and push your limits, the more you'll be able to deal with them when your career throws them right in your face.
Next time you're working to organize your den, go all the way and take that extra hour to really deal with that pile of papers. Face the boredom and you'll develop discipline.
Next time you've got to go talk to an annoying salesperson to get that new piece of furniture, face it down. It'll help you deal with challenging co-workers and clients.
Next time you've got to finish that piece of fanart, try out that new coloring technique even if it takes longer or risks failure. It'll get you used to building new skills even in adverse situations.
Go on. Inconvenience yourself. It'll prepare you for the challenges you'll face in the future.
– Steven Savage