{"id":92,"date":"2012-08-25T04:37:39","date_gmt":"2012-08-25T04:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southernfriedyanqui.com\/?p=92"},"modified":"2024-08-12T18:07:40","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T18:07:40","slug":"looking-for-the-right-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/looking-for-the-right-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking for the Right Map"},"content":{"rendered":"

For several years I have been trying to talk myself into doing something I really, really want to do: learn to write computer programs. I have always wanted to write computer programs. For my Millennial friends, this will take some imagination: I went to school in a time when the office equipment consisted of an electric typewriter, a telephone (rotary dial) , a mimeograph machine<\/a>, and the PA microphone. What we knew about computers was that they filled whole rooms and drove the most modern of business offices, space travel, and communications of \u201cthe future.\u201d Even at that time, I wanted to write the programs that told them what to do. I assure you, it\u2019s not about the power. I can\u2019t identify what exactly it is that intrigues me, but it has never, in all of my half century, left me.<\/p>\n

There is an abundance of resources available, and I have many of those resources already in hand. I have the platform to learn on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I have at least four books (in different sizes and formats) on the subject, and I have an account at Codecademy, and I\u2019ve gotten through a couple of lessons. I can accept baby steps, but these are measured in microns\u2014ridiculous!<\/p>\n

I know exactly what is holding me back: fear. That\u2019s what keeps most of us from doing what we really want to do, isn\u2019t it? And this is a really stupid fear, because I have never come up against anything that I wasn\u2019t able to learn how to do. I\u2019ve taught myself how to sew (my mother gave me a good start, to her credit, but I wasn\u2019t ready to learn at that point), knit (same story), crochet (again, same), type, use a computer, and fix it. I taught myself how to can vegetables. So why am I so afraid to jump into this endeavor, at no monetary risk of loss, with all the necessary materials already at hand? There is no consequence for failure, so why not go ahead with it?<\/p>\n

My self-justification has always been that I don\u2019t know enough advanced math, but I don\u2019t believe that even within myself. And I think, even as I was typing the words, that I finally see why I haven\u2019t made more progress with it than I have: there is no consequence for failure. There is no deadline, no bonus missed, in short, no accountability, nothing to force me to face my fear of falure. I studied for and passed my tests for A+ and Network+ certifications, under the same conditions, and I know that I need to start studying for the Security+ cert, but that one has a deadline and I have (sort of) gotten started on that one. I have to maintain continuing education efforts for my job, and I have to obtain a certain number of credits within a stated period of time. I don\u2019t know what the consequences are, but it is not unreasonable to assume I could lose my job. That\u2019s a pretty powerful incentive.<\/p>\n

Well, that feels better. At least I know WHY, now I need to figure out HOW to get past it.
\nAny ideas?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For several years I have been trying to talk myself into doing something I really, really want to do: learn to write computer programs. I have always wanted to write computer programs. For my Millennial friends, this will take some imagination: I went to school in a time when the office equipment consisted of an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[359,1177,1185,50,122,1276,173,179,1398,1400,744,835,877,1513,227,1564,1586,257,1624],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bold-and-better","tag-business","tag-codecademy","tag-communications","tag-computer","tag-education","tag-fear","tag-linux","tag-mac","tag-microphone","tag-mimeograph","tag-office","tag-program","tag-resources","tag-rotary","tag-space-2","tag-telephone","tag-typewriter","tag-windows","tag-write"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking for the Right Map<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you ever wanted to do something that had great potential, but just couldn't get started? Good--now tell me how you got through it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking for the Right Map\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you ever wanted to do something that had great potential, but just couldn't get started? Good--now tell me how you got through it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Oakwood Experience\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-25T04:37:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-12T18:07:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy Jones\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy Jones\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/looking-for-the-right-map\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/looking-for-the-right-map\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nancy Jones\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/94ee11a335504cf49eb88a251528a810\"},\"headline\":\"Looking for the Right Map\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-25T04:37:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-12T18:07:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/looking-for-the-right-map\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":548,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"business\",\"Codecademy\",\"communications\",\"computer\",\"education\",\"fear\",\"Linux\",\"Mac\",\"microphone\",\"mimeograph\",\"Office\",\"program\",\"resources\",\"rotary\",\"space\",\"telephone\",\"typewriter\",\"Windows\",\"write\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Bold and Better\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/looking-for-the-right-map\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/looking-for-the-right-map\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/looking-for-the-right-map\\\/\",\"name\":\"Looking for the Right Map\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-25T04:37:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-12T18:07:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"Have you ever wanted to do something that had great potential, but just couldn't get started? Good--now tell me how you got through it.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/looking-for-the-right-map\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/looking-for-the-right-map\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/looking-for-the-right-map\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Looking for the Right Map\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Oakwood Experience\",\"description\":\"Technology news, information, commentary, tutorials, and deep dives, and my photography journey.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Oakwood Experience\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/staging\\\/2633\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/Oakwood-Experience.png?fit=1000%2C885&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/staging\\\/2633\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/Oakwood-Experience.png?fit=1000%2C885&ssl=1\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":885,\"caption\":\"Oakwood Experience\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/94ee11a335504cf49eb88a251528a810\",\"name\":\"Nancy Jones\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b844525c51c8c622b37a68f8239add25f67d81fdee39b2f3d9c6e80dfde4e31a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b844525c51c8c622b37a68f8239add25f67d81fdee39b2f3d9c6e80dfde4e31a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b844525c51c8c622b37a68f8239add25f67d81fdee39b2f3d9c6e80dfde4e31a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nancy Jones\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oakwoodexperience.com\\\/staging\\\/2633\\\/author\\\/nancyjones36507gmail-com\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Looking for the Right Map","description":"Have you ever wanted to do something that had great potential, but just couldn't get started? Good--now tell me how you got through it.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Looking for the Right Map","og_description":"Have you ever wanted to do something that had great potential, but just couldn't get started? Good--now tell me how you got through it.","og_url":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/","og_site_name":"Oakwood Experience","article_published_time":"2012-08-25T04:37:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-08-12T18:07:40+00:00","author":"Nancy Jones","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nancy Jones","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/"},"author":{"name":"Nancy Jones","@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/#\/schema\/person\/94ee11a335504cf49eb88a251528a810"},"headline":"Looking for the Right Map","datePublished":"2012-08-25T04:37:39+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-12T18:07:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/"},"wordCount":548,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["business","Codecademy","communications","computer","education","fear","Linux","Mac","microphone","mimeograph","Office","program","resources","rotary","space","telephone","typewriter","Windows","write"],"articleSection":["Bold and Better"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/","url":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/","name":"Looking for the Right Map","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-08-25T04:37:39+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-12T18:07:40+00:00","description":"Have you ever wanted to do something that had great potential, but just couldn't get started? Good--now tell me how you got through it.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/looking-for-the-right-map\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Looking for the Right Map"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/","name":"Oakwood Experience","description":"Technology news, information, commentary, tutorials, and deep dives, and my photography journey.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/#organization","name":"Oakwood Experience","url":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Oakwood-Experience.png?fit=1000%2C885&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Oakwood-Experience.png?fit=1000%2C885&ssl=1","width":1000,"height":885,"caption":"Oakwood Experience"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/#\/schema\/person\/94ee11a335504cf49eb88a251528a810","name":"Nancy Jones","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b844525c51c8c622b37a68f8239add25f67d81fdee39b2f3d9c6e80dfde4e31a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b844525c51c8c622b37a68f8239add25f67d81fdee39b2f3d9c6e80dfde4e31a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b844525c51c8c622b37a68f8239add25f67d81fdee39b2f3d9c6e80dfde4e31a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nancy Jones"},"url":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/author\/nancyjones36507gmail-com\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1528,"href":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions\/1528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oakwoodexperience.com\/staging\/2633\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}