Will Smith (2): One Step at a Time

More insights from the December Reader's Digest interview with Will Smith.

Smith shared some valuable lessons he learned from his father:

Smith: My father was in the military, so everything was really regimented.

RD: Was he a taskmaster?
Smith: Oh, yeah, he was very serious about things being a certain way. When my father got out of the Air Force, he started his own refrigeration business. I might have been 12 and my brother 9 when one day he decided he wanted a new front wall at his shop. He tore the old one down -- it was probably 16 feet high and 40 feet long. And he told us that this was going to be our gig over the summer. We were standing there thinking, There will never, ever, be a wall here again. We went brick by brick for the entire summer and into winter and then back into spring. One day there was a wall there again. I know my dad had been planning this for a long time. He said, "Now, don't you all ever tell me there's something you can't do." And he walked into the shop.

The thing I connect to is: I do not have to build a perfect wall today. I just have to lay a perfect brick. Just lay one brick, dude.

How often have I felt overwhelmed by the enormity of a huge project, or a period of time (like the holidays) when so much is going on. At these times, I need to remember Smith's example:

Slow down. Take a deep breath. Take it one step at a time.

(See an earlier post on tips for tackling tough projects.)

Will Smith's Secrets of Success

I've always enjoyed Will Smith's movies - his characters are always worth the price of admission.
The December Reader's Digest has an interview with Will Smith that gave me some insights into his phenomenal success.

It's simple. Just blend a positive-thinking-to-the-max Dale Carnegie-type with a maniacal work ethic. Smith's take on himself: "I consider myself to be of basically average talent, right? What I have that other people do not have is a sick, obsessive, raw animal drive."

His philosophy is: "I can do it." Anything. Here's an example, in this exchange from the interview:

RD: So, you don't see any reason to go back to a formal education yourself?
Smith: I know how to learn anything I want to learn. I absolutely know that I could learn how to fly the space shuttle because someone else knows how to fly it, and they put it in a book. Give me the book, and I do not need somebody to stand up in front of the class.

RD: They put physics in a book, but I know I could never be a physicist.
Smith: The first step is you have to say that you can.

I'd have to agree. Some of the most important skills I've learned and used in my career have been self-taught. I taught myself to type one summer in high school. I taught myself programming from a reference manual during my first college job. Most of my Web development skills have been from books and references versus formal training.

Given the right mix of books, motivation, determination and discipline - you can learn anything.

Of course, becoming another Will Smith is a different story...

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Out of a job

My wife officially got the word today that her job with the accounting firm has come to an end: tomorrow will be her last day.

We've known this probably was coming for the last few weeks. She has still been doing some work for them, but it has been getting more irregular and scaled-down lately. As well, it's been a difficult place to work and keep in good spirits. She never was given regular duties and authority; instead, all she ever got was piecemeal work that would last a day or two. It was like being a permanent temporary worker.

This way she can file for unemployment and have some money coming in while she looks for something new. She's also been polishing her computer skills. She passed a proficiency test for both Microsoft Word and Excel for a city job she's applied for.

Being out of work is never fun, but even with that there's a bright side.

For the first time in years, she can spend Christmas vacation at home with the boys!

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