When I made the choice to go back to college, it was an easy one I have to say. I was granted an opportunity to pursue one passion through the discovery of another. And one thing I made abundantly clear in my quest to graduate: lead by example.
I have two children. My son Decker is 11. He's incredibly charming, is bright and has an amazing analytical mind. He loves science and Greek mythology, but math sits in the palm of his hand.
I recall back when he was in 5th grade. He brought home a homework assignment of only six complex questions. The problems required several steps to find the answer. His teacher was big on clearly showing every step, however, Decker simply wrote down the answers to each problem.
As his designated homework helper, I was perplexed (and suspicious) at how he arrived to the answers having not shown any work. So, I begged the question, "How did you get these answers?
"I did it in my head," he said.
Hmmm. So, dad grabbed pen, grabbed paper. Thirty minutes in and two trips to the electric pencil sharpener, my work equated to the exact answers that took my son a sixth of the time to figure out. I immediately asked my wife if I could take a paternity test (sarcasm). The word 'genius" has been tossed around occasionally about my son, but the only thing that's holding him back at times is effort.
My daughter Jessica is an 18-year-old college freshman studying to become an art professor. The arts come natural to her. She can grab her paints and whip up something beautiful in near impossible time. She's the calm natured go-getter. The type of girl who paves her own path and refuses any and all doubt over what she can or cannot do. Effort has never been her issue.
As long as she can quietly march her own way, she'll find her own way. But, that comes with a warning: just don't get into it.
No matter what my children decide to do, I've taught them this credo. "Effort is the key. You don't have to be the smartest, the most charming or even the most adept. Your effort is what will get you through everything."
I use Decker and Jess as my motivation, and as silly as it may seem, I've had to tap into every bit of it to get me through Web Pub & Design.
Make no mistake, I absolutely love this class. This class is everything I thought it would be and I'm doing fairly well. I place an immense amount of pressure on myself because I want to lead my children by example. Every time I work on my website, I'm no longer lost or intimidated by the lack of knowledge over how I can make things aesthetically better.
However, class has been a personal war of attrition as each week has passed. I've felt more and more behind trying to learn all the new coding techniques in combination with learning how to deal with IOs and Brackets. I overheard a comment the other day from one of the members of my project group. They said, "You're the creative mind behind the whole thing." I took that as a heavy compliment, however, doubt immediately blanketed me because the execution of it all simply cannot match my ability to create, organize and divide tasks.
Therefore, I have to apply the same rules that I've embossed into my children from day #1:
Effort will get you through it.
I've begun my portion of the group project and have made several steps in my personal as well. I have faith in my team members that we'll work through our issues and push forward a good project. However, my lack of execution does worry me. But, my team members have faith in me. I have to apply the same lessons I'm teaching Decker and Jess that nothing can outdo effort when it comes to accomplishing something. This class has proven I'm not the smartest, definitely not the most charming and certainly not adept. But I can guarantee, my effort will out match anyone because I have more on the line than just a grade.
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