This month is one which marks an important date in history for me. 25 years ago, I had enrolled in my first university computer programming course. At that time, I was introduced to email and TALK (now called livechat). I had never programmed extensively except for some BASIC which I taught myself when I was a teenager. In the 1980’s, computers were definitely not mainstream and I had faced a lot of criticism for spending so much time in front of a monitor for hours on end. I even went so far as to let my grades slip in school so I could spend time with my floppy disks, keyboard and hard drive. Walking down the hallways of my old high school with 5 ¼ floppy disks in hand would always result in an odd look or verbal criticism.
My reason for pursuing this was that I believed against everyone else’s notions that computers could one day change the world. I did not know how or when, but I was sure it would occur. I still do not believe it has achieved the level of penetration that I had envisioned when I was young, but it is slowly evolving and perhaps 20-30 years from now we will get there.
The point is that I started when very few people would even look at a computer. Anything worthwhile requires to go against the flow. The courage to take action when no one else will is the key to winning in any endeavor including financial freedom. If something is trendy, you know it is too late even though it feels good to be accepted such as buying real estate in 2006. If you need to be accepted, get a new group of friends who will support your vision.