It has been an interesting couple of weeks for me, as I've been taking in so much data about what success looks like and how it applies to everything I do professionally. The crazy thing is that I see scenarios that seem diametrically opposed, yet both are relatively valid.
For example, just today, a status update I made on Facebook has led to a lengthy discussion about the merits (or demerits) of a certain philosophy in developing software. I worked with both of the guys engaging in the debate, I respect them both a great deal, and yet they don't agree on the points they were debating. How can this be? Both are relatively successful by any reasonable measure. Yet 2,500 miles and different experiences divide their views. That is fascinating to me.
Similarly, I work with a bunch of younger people in a growing company that has found success, and many of them didn't finish college or go at all. I also have a friend who is rocking an MBA. They're all successful and smart people that are changing some part of the world, but are getting there in completely different ways. More importantly, both seem relatively open to the perspective of what the other may offer.
It brings me to an observation about myself that I think can be generally applied to people in varying degrees. I have spent portions of my life attempting to reinforce what I believe instead of allowing for the possibility that there are alternate beliefs that may have the same outcomes. I'm starting to realize just how powerful the awareness of that is. I'm not sure what motivates that reinforcement (my guess is that it's some combination of ego and fear), but if you can free your mind enough to consider another view, you can arrive at new conclusions and resist the temptation to settle into binary thinking.
I suppose this realization started to take hold as I prepared to move, if not before that, when I considered moving an option. Shortly after that, I met people who didn't go to college that were every bit as successful as I was (if not more so). Then I met fiscally conservative Democrats and gay loving Republicans!
There's something freeing about not spending your time defending what you think, and considering other possibilities. The more I do it, the more I find that there are better ways to approach things, and more often than not, multiple ways to approach them. And I rarely find that anything is a simple dichotomy, especially when it comes to politics.
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