RKCS Learning Solutions

When I initially asked Tony Karrer the question for the month, it was a question I was sure that he was asked a gazillion times.  After all, how could someone that does as much as he does NOT have people lining up to ask how he handles it all.  I know I’d join the line in a heartbeat.  Well, I did join the line technically but maybe I ended up cutting in front of a few people.  In any case, while the question itself was certainly not a novel idea or earth shattering to any degree, it came about because I looked at my own day and the struggle to complete everything that is in my mind and on my calendar.  Here’s where I reveal a little personal information.  If you are a government spy, then you should close your eyes right after the next period.  I have three children, one of whom is in school (kindergarten) and the other two are active young boys who stay with me at home….well…because I refuse to pay for daycare.  Maybe I need to consider it these days, but that’s another story.  While, I am able to do some things with them running around me, it definitely does not always make for the most productive of work days.  So, I get the bulk of my work done during the evening once my wife has returned.  Therefore, other than the time spent picking up my daughter from school, taking her to gymnastics, taking the boys to the park, getting them lunch, getting them breakfast, changing diapers, getting my own breakfast, trying to remember to take a multivitamin (because, of course, that’s the only way to be healthy and sane), running to the store to replenish the food the boys have devoured, taking phone calls from my wife who needs to make sure that I’m not killing HER two sons, throwing a few loads of laundry into the washer and then forgetting to transfer them to the dryer, unpacking the dishwasher and then watching some invisible person fill up the sink again, and, oh yeah, brushing my OWN teeth, I try to spend some time doing a few things that might be productive to me as a freelance e-learning designer.  [That was a mouthful, wasn't it?]

Tony’s Question: How much time do you spend and how did you find time for all the relatively newer things like reading blogs, twitter, social networks, etc.?

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So, the Big Question this month is “Do you sometimes feel stuck?” Well, I suppose we all feel that way at one time or the other. You feel stuck in not being able to contribute more. You feel stuck because you may feel like you have run out of ideas, the equivalent of writer’s block. You may feel stuck because…..you literally are! Whatever the reason, it is a feeling that transcends fields, disciplines, careers, paths and generations. Well, let me jump into the questions as they were stated:

Do you sometimes feel stuck?
Sometimes. I would say that it varies from project to project and from client to client. I felt stuck a lot in the beginning because although I had ideas, I didn’t have an understanding of software, principles, networks, resources that dealt directly with this field.

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