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Desperate times normally bring out the creativity in the human person. Poverty is said to be the mother of all invention. The present economic imbroglio is unnerving to the IT professional. The signs are blatantly displayed that there is a uneasiness in the technology world. I’ve had the opportunity to interact with a group of workers who are currently in limbo after learning that their company was bought out by a corporate giant. Oh yes, the days of being secure in your IT job are gone. The professional has to make himself or herself valuable to the stakeholder. That acronym rings through, ROI. Being an active observer for the past eleven years, I fully understand and support the posture of the decision makers as regards maximizing their training dollar. I have witnessed abuse by a minority of employees who viewed training as a day off. Just a way to be off the job. I have seen the majority of employees really working to achieve professional advancement and then not rewarded for their effort. In some cases it was just wastage of training dollars, the money had to be used up before the next year or the department would lose it. Goodbye to those days.

The days of the easy release of training dollars for employees by employers are over. No longer will employees be allowed to peruse the corridors of training institutions with impunity. The present economic turmoil has sealed that door. The need for certified employees is still a high priority but with the uncertainty of the business environment, these dollars are not going to be wasted. The big words, RETURN ON INVESTMENT! The adult/learner/employee has to evaluate the needs of the organization to which they are affiliated and go for it.

Every business enterprise that is connected to the internet has one major concern, SECURITY! Not only are these organizations tightening their approach to information security but they are, in some cases, mandated to display to stakeholders, their security posture. Compliance laws, directives and regulations like HIPAA, SOX,and Gramm-Leach-Bliley has made it a matter of successful or failing business ventures. Today the average network employee is being exposed to a whole new daily jargon. Privacy, confidentiality, integrity, availability, due care, due diligence, prudent person and on and on. The well-known network compromises of the last decade has created an environment that defines territory. Networks are already in place. They have been designed with speed and availability as the priority service. Not security. The old 80/20 rule of networking no longer applies. The evolution of communication from closed to open has redefined networks. A few years ago, you would see a few network security books on the shelves. Today there are books on Security+; Certified Ethical Hacking; Data Forensics, CISSP just to mention a few. The employee/stakeholder has finally accepted the fact that network staff is in a battle for control. The bad dudes are out there. Networks devices, applications, processes are all vulnerable ( check the SANS.org vulnerability list).

Most students I’ve met, have the needed knowledge of IT. The deviation is moving into the security field. What I love about it is that it is dynamic. There is a new challenge everyday. The Security + certification ( Comptia) is a phenomenal start. This program introduces the student to basic concepts of information security. Cisco has recently created the CCNA Security specialization. SANS has some great classes, so does Planet 3 for the WiFi heads. The need for qualified security personnel is overwhelming, this presents an opportunity for the serious networker to advance his/her career and be rewarded for it.

Divorce is tough, and for a lot of people it’s hard to let go of the past. Here’s a common question I receive from my clients: “My hardest challenge is staying in the now instead of the past and future.”

Staying in the now means being fully aware, conscious and dealing with what is happening to us right here, right now. Living in the moment is where our true joy and vitality exists. Like exercising a muscle that hasn’t been used much, with some discipline and tools you can make living in the present moment the rule, rather than the exception.

Human beings are very gifted at living in both the past and the future. Our ego-mind can take us back to the past, re-examining details of our lives and re-experiencing the feelings that happened. This is where we can get trapped in the “shoulda-woulda-coulda” internal dialogue.

We also are skilled at projecting into the future. We grind through “what if this happens, then what?” scenarios. When we live in the past or future, instead of creating our lives, we are simply reacting to our lives. It gets worse, though, because each time we hold these reactive thoughts, we solidify the neural connections within our brain that generate those experiences. It’s like we continue to lay down the track within our brain circuitry to a destination we really don’t want to be heading because it leaves us powerless and unhappy.

So how do you stay in the now instead of re-living the past or forecasting the future? The most important tool is to develop an awareness of your thoughts. With awareness, you start to be able to have choices rather than staying stuck in a default where you are reacting out of the past or future. When you notice yourself living in the past, stop and pause. You can even choose to give yourself a time limit and say “OK, I’ll give myself 5 more minutes to stew about this but then I am going to move on.”

Writing in a journal or speaking them out loud to yourself to break the trance. Expressing them can help drain these repetitive thoughts from your consciousness and leave you clearer to enjoy the present moment. Take some deep, belly breaths and bring your attention only to the movement and sound of your breath. This helps to quiet your mind. Discipline yourself to look just for the baby step in this moment. Don’t get sidetracked trying to plan 50 moves ahead of where you are right now. Meditation, taking time to sit quietly in nature or mindfulness practices like yoga can help give you experiences of being in the present. A great resource on this topic is Eckhardt Tolle’s The Power of Now.