This months TSQL Tuesday is hosted by Shane O’Neill (Blog | Twitter) Shane explains the Topic as:

Dipping into the Cookie Jar is about when the going gets tough and you don’t think you can handle anymore, then you think back about your accomplishments and take some sustenance from them.

Cookie One: is remembering back to where I came from – just 5 years ago I wasn’t even in IT let alone the DBA role! I sometimes have to remind myself of this fact and bring myself back to reality when I do not always know the answer.

Cookie Two: Drive and determination to find the answer! I hate not knowing the answer to the technical aspects about SQL and if I find myself in this situation you can bet I will know the answer the next day (or I would have at least tried)

Cookie Three: I always keep some old scripts kicking around that I wrote some time ago when I felt I was ‘Good at SQL’ , this one can help give me a great boost in confidence because back when I wrote the code I felt like it was great code – funny thing is now I can look back and say What on earth was I thinking doing it that way – Go grab some or your old code!! I bet you can make it better!

Cookie Four: One of my experiences around memory grants led to some code which I contributed to sp_BlitzFirst! This one for me was a huge achievement that I will never forget and the best part is I get to see it every time I run sp_BlitzFirst!

Cookie Five: My family , for years I wanted to become a DBA, I struggle to see failure as an option – I wanted to set a good example to my children that even when the odds are stacked against you you never give up! You get out what you put in and no one can take hard work away from you! I live by this and every day I try and better myself because I always want to be the best I can be and sometimes that means learning the hard way!

Cookie Six: Being part of the SQL Family – full of tons of inspiration and helpful faces! even those people that I consider SQL celebrities are down to earth and always have the time to help out and support!

They say that if you enjoy your job then you will never work a day in your life, I really can say that I totally agree with this – its not just a job , I love being a DBA and aside from the cookies I mentioned above, my main cookie is that I should just enjoy it whilst I can because you know what! Life is far too short to be hung up on the things that really don’t matter! Enjoy it! be creative! experiment! get out of your comfort zone and learn something you want to learn, don’t always be led by others telling you ‘why do you wanna learn Python?!’ if you want to do it, do it! enjoy it! be great at it!

Thanks for reading