Oh, to be as a child!

By Seamus Dolly
Posted Monday, December 20, 2004

Did you ever look at a child, so young, so innocent to life, yet a virtual WEBMASTER when it comes to setting the remote for the T.V.? When using a computer for example, they are often limited in lessons, nowhere as technically informed as ourselves, yet seem as or more efficient.

Evolution doesn't move that fast, well not in one generation, and not so profoundly. What do our kids, or the children of others, know, to put them in such an "elevated" position?

Do they have special skills that we somehow missed? Are we declining/getting too old, even at a young age?

Believe me, I am no doctor. However, it seems to me that the ability of a child to learn is simply related to their state of mind.

They have no reason to believe that they cannot do anything. They sometimes have the benefit of encouragement. Everything is new, and therefore something new, is nothing new. Everything is a distraction, and another distraction is no distraction. Technology is only a word, not a technology.

A computer is no more than a shirt with more colours and with more buttons. A mistake is nothing new, and not worth mistaking for a "worry". Their learning is so fast that there is no time for regrets, and regrets are not considered. Their "peers" are in the same boat as them, and they view every thing in much the same way.

Is there something we can learn from children, something that we once knew, just a few years ago? Our parents may have looked on us and wondered about the technologies that we tried to push on them. Going further back in time, some people had a tough time to get their parents interested in a toilet that flushed, a watch that didn't need to be wound, a "biro"/pen that needed no inkwell to successfully write a letter. Whatever would they now think, of a word processor, or indeed a mobile phone/cell phone, or indeed the INTERNET?

What I'm suggesting is that we re-adopt the attitude of a child when we are under pressure. That is to hold on, drive on, look forward, and nowhere else. There is almost nothing you cannot learn, achieve, if your focus/mindset is right, or if you adjust it. I knew nothing about computers or the internet a few years ago. Now I am writing this, which is no great achievement but is something greater that what I ever envisaged, a short time ago.

My background is as a MECHANICAL FITTER, using a lathe and welding bars of steel. Computer illiterate, no typing skills and locally minded as opposed to the best invention to date, THE INTERNET, which is essentially globally minded. The first thing for me was to learn to type, which is definitely helpful, but not essential. Believe me when I say that it wasn't easy. I'm sure that it took me 1000 hours as my fingers are large and awkward from years of hard and manual labour.

Yet to learn to type, even with large and awkward fingers, is not a big thing to do. People with serious physical restrictions overcome great barriers everyday. Consider the SPECIAL OLYMPICS participants and the positions they improve! So they also do this by their attitude and mindset, and a desire to improve themselves, and they use little magic.

My large and awkward fingers are no longer a problem, though I was often so frustrated, I wanted to cut them off, but was too awkward to accurately use a scissors, ( I'd cut off my wrists and perhaps a leg).

I had no academic qualification and enrolled in an electronics course in the hope that it would improve my C.V.. Within an hour, I said to myself " WHAT HAVE I SIGNED MYSELF UP FOR?" Did you ever say that to yourself? You probably did. You'd say to yourself that you got yourself into a worse position by trying to get yourself into a better position. So we are all the same in that respect, and sometimes convince ourselves to stop. The BIG thing is not to give up, and the harder it seems, the more you should look to a child and their "in-built" and automatic desire to move on.

When I first started in this business, I was getting up to 1300 e-mails per day. At the time, I felt that I had to read most of them, for two reasons: To get an idea of what was going on. I had a lot of important e-mails.

When I could or should have been out on the town with my friends, I was stuck to the computer. I didn't like it. It would have been easier not to, in the short term. I'm glad that I stuck with it, though, because in hindsight, I'd have achieved nothing and learned little, if I didn't. This is not an ego-trip, as it isn't a big thing, in a big context, but it is a big thing on a personal level. I'm writing this because I'm sure that there are millions of people that are stuck in a rut and what I'm suggesting is that the INTERNET is the cheapest and easiest avenue for escape.

The opportunities are endless and if nothing else, You will be armed with something other than "small talk". You will have more in common with the next generation. You can connect with people, when it is raining, freezing, or you simply don't want to leave the comfort of your home.

You can find an interest, or an interest in business, just like the stuff the internet is full of. There is a load of free technology available, if you decide to trust it. And there it is in the last sentence, "IF YOU DECIDE TO TRUST IT". As a child would; no fear, and no doubt, but an automatic decision to do it.

"When you do something, something will be done; When you do nothing, you've successfully contradicted yourself".

About the Author
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