This month hasn't been the best for me. I won't go into detail, but there were enough challenging things that happened personally that I actually tried to sing them all to the
tune of the 12 days of Christmas. Once I
realized it would go over 12, I quit trying.
Instead, I started thinking about work. This can be dangerous, but I encourage
everyone to take a step back and try it, especially this time of year. As security professionals, we face change, failure and
defeat all the time. My favorite TV show
line this fall was from 'Sleepy Hollow': "Crane, you and I can't have lunch
without peril". Our jobs are a lot like that. The key is not to let it get
to us. Yes, it may seem like we are
never going to make progress, no one wants to help us and maybe we should just
go eat worms. Me, personally, I don't
care to eat bugs, so I chose to do something completely different.
After I got over the Christmas carol thing, I got
motivated. Maybe even a little
aggravated in an energizing way to quit whining and go do something. I started small- I literally just went for a
quick walk. But after that, I started
thinking again. What do I need to do
next year? Who are three people that I
need to work better with? How can I do
my job better? And, even better than
that: how can I learn from my failures
and improve the next time?
Its all about understanding what is truly
important, prioritizing what is, and charging ahead. I find this good advice for not only my
fellow security professionals, but also personally. There is always some way to do things. If you keep asking questions and friends for their thoughts, you
will figure it out.
What I am not saying is go off and
make some New Years' resolutions.
Typically, those don't last (and either will my energized euphoria). But I will take the energy for now. I won't let challenges defeat me. After all, challenges are temporary too.
