I was asked by someone the other day, where do you get your drive and motivation? For a second, I was stumped. After giving it a little thought I realized that my drive has several sources. The first is my family of course. My wife has this unbridled drive for success that cannot be measured at any level. Whenever anyone in the house says I can’t, I don’t know how to…, You can’t or some variation of those sentences she immediately corrects us. Can’t is not part of our vocabulary. Next it’s my kids, they think I am Superman, Bill Gates, Jay Z, Barack Obama, a barber, a mechanic, a chef, etc.. You get the picture. It's funny, if we are watching TV or we see someone do something, one of my kids will always say, Dad you can do that.  With that long list of expectations a man has to be driven to learn and succeed.

Then there is the SQL Server Community. For me the community is boundless. We learn from each other. I became active in the community about 3 years ago when I started a SQL Server User Group in Baton Rouge. I had just installed SQL Server 2005 and set up a GEO cluster. In the process I learned so many interesting things about the new features of 2005 and I wanted to share them. I talked to the local .Net user group then I spoke with PASS and the user group was born. After the first presentation I became addicted to presenting. I get a rush from sharing what I learn and for some reason not being able to answer a question. This drives me to learn more so I can share more. So I guess my addiction to presenting and the need to share information is a major contributor to my drive.

Another source and probably the biggest factor to my motivation is myself. Everyone morning when I wake up I say, this is going to be a productive day. What does productive mean? I am going to write a new presentation, I am going to get a new speaker for the SQL Lunch, I am going to help someone solve a problem, I am going to learn something new about SQL Server, I am going to read something new today, I am going to help someone start a User Group. I often end the day with a recount of the day. What did I do? Some would call me a GEEK or maybe even a NERD, but these days that equals success. Think back to your youth, and all of the geeks or nerds that you knew. Look them up. What are they doing? I actually talked to a couple of the GEEKS that went to our high recently and they are pretty successful.  I am not saying that all GEEKS are successful, but there seems to be a decent trend in their favor.

Finally, there's GOD and my parents.  We all know that all this that you know as PATRICK would not exist.  So, I definitely have to mention that trio.

So, what drives you? What is your motivation? Share it with us.

Talk to you soon,

Patrick LeBlanc, SQL Server MVP, MCTS

Founder www.TSQLScripts.com and www.SQLLunch.com