Do you have to be a Jedi Master to be a successful in IT Security? The great Yogi Berra said Baseball was, “90% Mental and the other half is physical” and I tend to agree the same is the case with IT Security. Staying on top of software, hardware, versions, patches, updates, upgrades, installs, users, hackers and much much more is very taxing with a closet full of Best of Breed products.

I think the real fanfare should be for the operators and administrators and managers and executives of IT who mentally hold it all together. Lifehack wrote about a great post on “How To Keep Motivated In the Long Run” by Kevin Cornell on A List Apart where Kevin writes about staying motivated and fresh in a creative field. I certainly think IT is an extremely creative field and to police it one has to be equally creative as the designers of software, hardware, viruses, spam, spyware and the challenge between the computer and the chair.

Motivation is elusive like pitching a perfect game or getting a black car perfectly clean. If I could wish for any invention in the world, it would be a motivation pill. It is funny how whatever i am motivated to do gets done to the highest quality, but an falter in motivation and something does not even make the cut for consideration.

Hone those motivational and mental skills and “Be the Server”.

Michael Rowles

IT Security Jedi Padawan