IT Insights Blog — TestOut Continuing Education

From 1999 to 2005, few people in the world were better at anything than Lance Armstrong was at winning the prestigious Tour de France cycling race. After winning the global showcase event for the first time in 1999, cancer survivor Armstrong went on to win the next six Tour de France events.

One of my heroes is Booker T. Washington, world renowned educator and founder of historically black Tuskegee University in Alabama. As a former slave turned educator, his goal for the students was “self-reliance” and he accomplished this by teaching the practical skills needed to succeed at farming and other trades typical of the rural South.

Life is full of minor items and small details that need to be taken care of on a regular basis. Likewise every job comes with duties and responsibilities that recur throughout the week or month and demand attention from the person or persons who have been assigned to monitor those chores. This condition is often amplified in the IT world, where sometimes it's difficult to see the forest of one's job role for the several dozen trees of individual tasks to be completed.

Larry Bird, the “Hick from French Lick,” is one of the greatest players in NBA history. In an accolade-laden 13-year career Bird was a three-time NBA champion, three-time NBA MVP, two-time NBA Finals MVP, and a 12-time All-Star.

They say that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. That line of thinking only applies, however, as far back as the last time that you turned the page on a new chapter in the annals of your professional career, formal education, dating life, or whatever it is. Life is full of fresh starts, after all, particularly when it comes to the workplace: The most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the average length of service at any job is 4.4 years.