Success Is Journey Not A……

I’ve often heard the quote “Success is not a journey, but a destination”. Over the course of the last few weeks that quote has taken on a life like form in many fashions. To name a few things that have come to light to make this quote a very real thing are the MCM retiring, having a VMAX overloaded by maintenance plans across the board, upcoming DR Testing, planned Power outages (better than non planned ones eh!).

All these things as I look back on them screams to me that Success is a journey, not a destination. For SQL Data Professionals our jobs are ever changing and growing as we grow with it. Each day is an opportunity to learn something within SQL that you or I didn’t know yesterday, each day presents it’s own opportunities to reach resolutions that you or I didn’t know yesterday, and each day represents that during our failures we can discover the true desire for success.

To the beginner who is starting out who doesn’t know about the sp_configure, the proper use of ORDER BY, or what Table Scan vs. Indexing; the answer is not to just ignore or give up. Dig in and discover what that solution is; it’s how we learn.

To the seasoned SQL Data Professional vet who has been putting off getting on the speaking circuit, taking a newbie under your wing and mentoring them, or simply are just comfortable; challenge yourself. Step outside that normal box and tackle new things head on.

When you have that replication issue that goes awry and you don’t have that big enough wrench to fix it (I use this analogy all the time thanks to Robert Davis a.k.a. SQLSoldier (B|T), stay the course and work your way through it.

I get asked a lot of questions when speaking, email traffic etc., where individuals feel defeated in the problems they are facing within SQL. Every problem has a solution; every solution is waiting to be found it’s up to us as SQL Data Professionals to buckle down and find the answer.

If you are not active in the community I’ve listed some of what I call top tier SQL Data Professionals on the right of this blog site that I follow who have helped me in my DBA career. Forums are also a great place to increase ones learning…to name a few you can check out these:

One last note; when is the last time you just said a simple thanks to someone who has helped you in your career? This past week that has weighed on my mind greatly. A former boss, a mentor, a person who you get newsfeeds from…..I fall in the boat where I get wrapped up in the work I do; I often overlook the simple thank you that in reality goes a long way.

Tackle obstacles, Tackle your fears, and Tackle the solution head one.