As I’ve mentioned before I don’t have a specific “Big Why” that drives me. There’s no tangible goal I’m driven to accomplish with my life, no dream that I’m aware of that I’m heading towards.
Rather, I’ve identified what I’ve come to call my “Big What” – the characteristics of how I want to live, and what I enjoy doing. The other way to look at that is that I’ve got a pretty reasonable picture of what I want my journey to look like, without really having any particular destination in mind.
My “Big What” is simply that I’m all about personal technology. I enjoy playing with it and can’t really envision a satisfied life without personal technology playing a big role in it.
Now, that’s good as far as it goes, but it does seem like it’s fairly ego-centric, and missing an opportunity. Having a destination on that journey would give me a higher purpose than just playing, and allow me to focus that play in a way that just random wanderings – even on paths that I might enjoy – would not achieve.
In addition to understanding what I enjoy, I also have some idea of what it is I’m good at. The last few years of Ask Leo! have reinforced and reminded me that I’m actually a pretty good writer, and that I seem to have a talent, a gift if you will, of being able to explain technical concepts and situations in terms that non-technical people can more easily grasp.
And then there’s what I believe. I’ve written about why technology excites me, and to quote that post, “I truly believe that technology, and specifically personal and individually accessible technologies, are the key to humanity’s next stage of growth and even survival.”
So, if I take what I want to do – play with technology – and give it some focus with what I seem to be good at – explaining technology – then marry them with what I believe – personal technology is key to the future of humanity, we have what I’ll call it my “little why”. It allows me to give that desire focus and turn it to a higher purpose, something that is has the potential to actually contribute to humanity by sharing my passion in a way that actually stands a chance of helping people.
Throw it all together and this is what I do:
I believe that personally accessible technology is the foundation of humanity’s future. To that end I teach people to understand and safely use personal computers and related technology so that they can do more, be more, grow more and connect more than ever before and be an active participant in that future. I do that by answering questions, educating on important topics and trends, and sharing my overall passion and excitement for the possibilities.
Helping people navigate the confusing and turbulent waters of technology is one way I can do what I love – play with technology – while in some small way helping people and making the world a better place.