When I had to work hard

When I was in high school I was in school until 2:30 and my boss at my after school job scheduled me from 2:00 to 10:00 PM. When I told him that I didn’t get out of school until 2:30, he said, “get in here as soon as you can.” I did. My boss gave me a list of things to do each night and I rushed to do them all.

When I worked in a computer store, I’d take all the new magazines home at night and read them cover to cover to learn everything I could. I’d learn all the new programs too. Then I was meeting coordinator for the Macintosh User Group for the Boston Computer Society, scheduling monthly speakers and doing on stage demos. All this took time and hard work.

When I wanted to get in to radio, I worked as a producer, writer, sidekick at a Boston station from 3:30 AM — 9:00 AM, then drove out to Framingham to work 10 to 7 PM at a computer distributor.

When I went out on my own, I’d learn as much as I could about whatever was the newest thing, to become an expert in that field. It happened over and over again, including database development, web design, video production, and live streaming.