Introduction
Geology is a science that is loaded with jargon. Today, I’m going to add an axiom, or maybe it’s an assertion. Whatever the correct terminology, you will understand what it means by the end of this article.
Tableau Sends Me A Rock!
Today, this boy got a rock in the mail. It might not sound like much to most people (99.9999% of people on earth), but to this boy, it symbolizes a reward for a decade of passion, learning, and sharing of information. Specifically, this rock is symbolic of a HUGE amount of work, encompassing more than a decade of practice, teaching, and using a software tool known as Tableau to do good things.
My Celebration
To celebrate the moment, this boy wrote a simple tweet (you can see it in the next figure).
In two days, the response to this tweet taught me more about connecting with people than writing hundreds of articles in six years of blogging.
Let me say that again: I learned more from the response to this tweet than I ever learned from anything I have ever written and shared on my blog. Now I’ll try to explain what I learned.
What I Learned
I wrote a simple message and a LOT OF PEOPLE responded. My message was that it took me a long time (11 yrs, 4 months, and 7 days – but who is counting?) to be recognized as someone that has made a contribution to the Tableau community. I cannot explain why that was the case, but I just stated the fact.
For whatever reason(s), many people either liked this message or could relate to it. Many people wrote to me directly and this surprised me. I had more people follow me on Twitter than ever before. I have been completely humbled. Why did this happen, I wondered?
Maybe people simply want to follow Tableau Zen Masters. That is one definite possibility. Maybe it is that they want to follow someone who has been consistent in producing helpful information across many years. I think the truth of this response, however, has something to do with a phenomenon completely different than either of those reasons.
Momentum
I think people responded to this message because of momentum. As soon as my wife took my picture and I posted this message to Twitter, my Apple Watch started dinging. Ding, ding, ding, ding…..Each ding represented a “like” on Twitter or some other type of response. My watch was dinging so much, my wife asked me what was going on!
Through years of tweeting and writing articles, I have never had a response like this. In my two multi-year rounds of Twitter presence, during which I’ve tweeted thousands of messages, nothing like this has happened – not even close.
A typical tweet of mine receives a few “likes” over days. Never before was I able to see real-time counts going into the thousands of impressions. Articles that have taken me days, or weeks to write get no attention at all. My global warming work, which now spans 5 years and counting, is mostly ignored. So why did this simple message resonate like it did?
Momentum.Â
One definition of momentum is this:
the strength or force that allows something to continue or to grow stronger or faster as time passes
When a tweet originates, it has no momentum because its speed is zero. The message is just a collection of words on a computer screen. There is no movement, there is no speed, and hence, no momentum.
Somehow, a tweet needs to be given a push, so that it gains speed and then it can build momentum. This is akin to a rock on a hillside. The rock remains stationary unless it is given a push or tossed down the hill.
In my case, the push came from some key people that understand the struggle of blogging, of teaching, of doing things that nobody pays you for. These people, like Allan and Anya, Ken and Kevin, Paul, Nick, Chris, Amanda, and so many others gave my message a push by liking it, by responding to it, and by retweeting it in some cases. In other words, these people imparted momentum to my message.
As the collection of big-name individuals expressed their appreciation of my long-lasting dedication to the craft of Tableau, my tweet continued to gain momentum. I had no expectation of this, no experience with it, and no control over it. My Tableau rock was now rolling down the hill. This is what happens when Tableau sends a boy a rock, and the rock rolls down the hill.
Conclusion
Over many years I dreamed of what it would be like to be a Tableau Zen Master. I wondered if my blog would be read by more people on the day I became one. I wondered if anyone would call me to congratulate me. Neither of those things happened explicitly (although I did get a text message from my friend Clay!).
What I didn’t envision is what actually happened. I had a Twitter moment. I had a message that resonated with a lot of people that appreciated my work. For this reason, it was all worth it. Maybe my work gained some momentum.
Finally, here is the assertion I promised at the beginning of the article. By giving me a rock, Tableau has proven my assertion:
You can take the boy out of geology, but you can’t take geology out of the boy!
Ken Black, Knoxville, TN June, 2019
Thank Yous
Thank you Tableau for my rock. Thank you to Brenda for giving my vote the push it needed to make this selection. Thanks to Allan and Anya for your continued support, to Joe, Jonathan, Joshua, Andy, and Russell for setting the bar really high in Tableau (which made me work hard to achieve excellence), and to Francois, Andy and others at Tableau that have corresponded with me through the years. To all other Tableau community members, I sincerely thank you, too. I’d do it all over again if I could.
The Take-Aways
We depend upon each other to be successful in what we are doing. We cannot impart change without each other. Support each other. Encourage each other. Be enthusiastic. Help new people in the community gain an audience. Help experienced people maintain their audience. Momentum comes to you when you least expect it. You will be rewarded when the time is right. For these reasons, enjoy your journey. As always, thanks for reading.
Congrats UK on the recognition!!