Nobody likes admitting when they’re wrong, even to themselves. It’s hard enough to change things when you want to, let alone when you don’t. But sometimes it’s exactly what’s necessary.
One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about as we near the end of the calendar year is some of the mistakes I’ve made recently. Usually I’m pretty open to new technology, but once in awhile I write one off if I don’t immediately see its usefulness or if I don’t fully grasp it because it may be outside of my skillset.
For example, I came across a WordPress theme framework called Genesis last year that seemed to be very popular among developers. For several reasons, I doubted it was something I could use and pushed off learning it. Instead, I went in a few other directions and even purchased licenses of competing products.
I don’t remember exactly what brought me back around to it, but earlier this year I decided to see if it was any better this time. I sought out a few resources and really tried to invest time into learning more about it, and finally realized it could be a great tool for my business if I applied it the right way.
Since then, I have used it for client projects and it has even helped me become a better developer.
A key lesson I learned this year is never to be afraid of something I don’t understand right away. As much as I regret not working with it sooner, I also needed to have the right perspective and opportunity to realize how useful it could be.
Sometimes all it takes is a different perspective, but that can also take time. In the next year and near future, I want to learn to be more open to taking chances on things I don’t fully understand. I’m sure I will fail at first in many cases, but it will also help me grow as a developer and person.
I think it’s important to continually push yourself into new areas in order to stay relevant, especially in a technology business.
What new thing will you try to learn next year?
