Use your badges or they become worthless, just as rocks aren’t weapons unless propelled by a sling.
“Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness.”
― Malcolm Gladwell,
Lesson from David and Goliath: Swift and accurate beats strong and powerful
Why was Goliath so big? He most likely suffered from a medical condition called gigantism. This is caused by the overproduction of growth hormone in the pituitary gland. Gigantism also has the negative side effect of impaired vision.
The advantage of Goliath’s size and strength was also a disadvantage – one that worked to David’s advantage.
Goliath presented a challenge to Israel. Why conduct a war between the Israelites and Philistines, where hundreds of men would die when he could battle the best of Israel’s warriors and settle it between the two of them?
No man in Israel stepped forward to fight Goliath, except for David.
Goliath had great expertise in fighting and winning hand to hand combat with his opponents. Why hand to hand? Because he had tremendous size and strength, but also had poor vision. David excelled at his craft, slinging small stones at high rates of speed at predators in the distance. He had experience killing a lion and a bear using this method when they made off with his sheep. As a master “Slinger”, David had developed the skill of accurately hurling a stone at a high rate of speed up to 150 mph.
When David approached Goliath on the battlefield, Goliath calls David to come close to him to fight. Why? He couldn’t see David clearly.
David ran at Goliath with a great rate of speed, whirling his sling around his head and finally launching his stone at the Giant. The stone landed firmly on the giant’s head, causing the giant to drop dead. But, just to make sure, David ran over and using the Goliath’s own sword, cut off his head.
What does this have to do with badges?
In the context of Continuous Learning, here at Upskill Create, we promote earning digital badges. These badges are like small stones in your pouch that are potential weapons in conquering your giants – getting a new job, getting promoted, learning something new in an up and coming technology.
But, if you don’t apply those badges like stones in a sling, to go for a greater purpose, you will not use the badges as they were intended. They will be just worthless common stones.
Our goal at Upskill Create is to provide you with proof points of your ability to slay giants. We give you challenges, like David’s Lion and Bear that he killed, to prove what you know. We show you how to create content and complete projects that prove that you know what you know.
And, like David, building confidence killing the natural enemies of his sheep, when it came time to slay a giant, he was ready to spring into action.
Whatever your giant might be, you need to build up your confidence and courage to be ready for the real fight. Isn’t a job interview somewhat like a battle? The interviewer tries to find your weaknesses, and discover how you don’t measure up. You, in turn, counter their questions with proof of your knowledge and skill.
Corporations ask you to: “Show me, Don’t tell me”. At Upskill Create we give you opportunities to show what you know. When it comes time to interview for a job, you can say: “My resume/CV only tells you what I know. Let me show you what I’ve done…”
At which point, you can impress the interviewer with your work – blog posts, web applications, and other artifacts of your knowledge that you have created.
Do you have the courage, like David, to slay your giant?
Come join other Giant Slayers at UpskillCreate.com
“Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start. Courage is what you earn when you’ve been through the tough times and you discover they aren’t so tough after all.”
― Malcolm Gladwell,
How will you slay your giants? Would you like to be encouraged by the stories of other Giant-Slayers?
Upskill Create is all about creating a lifestyle of continuous learning and then applying what you have learned to secure your future and create a life you love. Our mantra is Learn. Create. Share. Repeat!
We offer an engaging private community of fellow “Upskillers” to provide an environment where we can learn, collaborate and encourage each other in this journey. You can request an invitation to join this FREE community at the bottom of this post.
I hope you will join me,