4 Lessons Learned Spending 8 Weeks
Outside My Strength Zone

On July 20th of this year my website was hacked and malware was installed on my backend servers.

My website was promptly shutdown and the next 8 weeks spawned into more work outside of my natural strength zone than I could have ever imagined.

NOTE: The security team who oversaw the cleanup process of my website indicated that customer information was NOT accessed in the hack. If by chance that is not correct, which is highly unlikely, the only personal information that would be accessible would include email addresses. I do not store any financial information on my site, so any transactions you may have completed were done so securely. Contact me with any questions. Thanks!

Photo Credit: midiman

In the seven years that I have been blogging and working with websites I have never been hacked, until now. I ended up paying a few companies hundreds of dollars to clean up the mess and return everything to normal – though the latter never actually happened.

Over the course of the last two months I have also spent hundreds of hours restoring services, upgrading servers, writing code, troubleshooting acronyms that I don’t understand, and trying desperately to learn whatever I had to in order to regain what I lost.

Though getting hacked may sound rough, it was merely the tip of the iceberg — the instigator of the real work yet to come.

I Am NOT A Coder

Knowing who you are is really a testament to self-awareness, a keen understanding of your likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, preferences and the lack thereof.

If I had to sum up the last 8 weeks in one sentence it would be this: I am NOT a coder.

For years I have thought of myself as a well-rounded guy who could do anything well. Turns out, that’s just not true.

– JEFF SANDERS

I don’t truly understand websites, server configurations, or technical jargon like HTML, PHP, or CDN. I know just enough to be dangerous and I frequently push the boundaries of what I don’t know, which inevitably yields the end result you might expect: lots of errors, headaches, and angry fist pumps.

For years I have thought of myself as a well-rounded guy who could do anything well. Turns out, that’s just not true. More than that, it’s an awful belief system that has held me back from doing my best work for years.

4 Lessons I Learned While Buried in Ones and Zeros

Though you may not spend any of your time wading through website code, you likely know exactly how it feels to take on projects that far exceed your current skill set.

Since hindsight is so clear, I want to take a minute and reflect on a few lessons I learned from this mostly preventable experience.

1. Life is Much Harder When Things Don’t Come Easy

This may sound ridiculously obvious, so let me clarify. For many years I have clung to the belief that spending more time on things that are hard for me will make me better, stronger, or faster.

In small doses, this can be true. However, when you spend a large chunk of your time every day outside of your strength zone, life is really difficult.

Everything feels harder than it should and you find yourself falling farther and farther away from your best self.

In the middle of my anger and frustration over the continual onslaught of technical problems I found myself losing hope. I was moody and upset most of the time. I found myself slipping on healthy habits that previously had not been an issue.

In short, my entire life became more difficult when I spent too much time outside of where I belonged.

2. Don’t Blame Others for Your Weaknesses

This lesson should really be titled, Don’t Argue with Tech Support. It’s easy to point fingers at other people when we are experiencing frustration and anger. But, your shortcomings are not an excuse to throw others under the bus.

As I learned firsthand, it’s especially important to make sure you don’t find yourself writing angry emails to others when you are the one who needs to step up and take responsibility for the problem.

Your shortcomings are not an excuse
to throw others under the bus.

– JEFF SANDERS

One of my biggest challenges was staying calm and clear about the issue in front of me. I had to try extra hard to focus and remain objective so that I could speak with the right person who could help me find a solution.

I also had to constantly remind myself to treat others with respect throughout the process, even if I initially believed they were the cause of the problem. Believe me, no one wants to help you if you’re attacking them. They will only defend their position and leave you stranded.

3. Structuring Your Life Around Your Strengths Breeds Success

As I was toiling through the mess of website problems I kept having one thought return over and over again, when will this nonsense end so I can get back to what I’m good at?

What I was thinking about was podcasting, product development, and running. I was dreaming about spending my days doing what I love because I knew that I loved spending time on my strengths.

The more time I spend podcasting and leveraging my ability to speak, the better I am at communicating and inspiring others. The more time I spend running the trails, the more energy, athleticism, and enjoyment I experience doing an activity that provides phenomenal personal rewards.

What became crystal clear during the last two months was that I wanted nothing more than to delegate this hard work I hated to someone else. I knew that by continuing to try to solve these problems myself I was chasing a rabbit I would never catch.

On the other hand, by clearing my calendar of all things I should not be personally managing I would be able to devote more time to what I was born to do.

4. Simplicity Wins Every Time

Amidst all of the technical battles I was facing, somehow I missed the most obvious lesson of them all, simplicity is everything.

Keeping things simple removes friction. It clarifies confusion and moves everything forward faster.

When you find yourself surrounded by problems that exceed your current skill set there is no other better first step than to figure out how to define the problem in the most simplistic manner.

In the world of sales it is well-known that if you can clearly define the problem you can sell anything because your customer will believe if you know the problem so well you must also know how to solve it.

That’s what simplicity brings, only in this case you are the salesman and the customer. You must sell yourself on keeping complexities to a minimum while maximizing the effectiveness of the smallest number of moving parts.

It’s not easy, but it’s always the right answer.

Where We Are Now

Today, the website is in the best shape of its life. The site is faster, more secure, more reliable, and more customizable than ever. I have new systems, processes, and programs that enable me to bring my vision to life.

However, the site is far from perfect and problems are certainly not avoidable. Although, I am confident that these last couple of months have been worth the incredible effort and I hope you can see some of the fruits of my labor.

When too much of my time falls outside of my strength zone, I know I will ultimately become inefficient, frustrated, and wildly less productive.

– JEFF SANDERS

Going forward I am making it my mission to stay focused on maximizing my strengths and delegating everything else that I can. As a productivity junkie, it only makes sense to invest my time, energy, and money on the few things that provide the greatest return.

When too much of my time falls outside of my strength zone, I know I will ultimately become inefficient, frustrated, and wildly less productive.

Reorient Your Life and Work

As a final action step today, take a minute to analyze your current situation.

1. Does working outside your strength zone frustrate or embolden you?
2. Do you spend a significant amount of time working in your strength zone?
3. Is your career based on what you’re good at or what pays the bills?
4. Could you find a new job or start a new business that optimizes what you are naturally suited for?

Next Week

On the blog next week I will be shifting gears and sharing 7 reasons why trail running may be the best pre-breakfast activity, even if you wouldn’t consider yourself a runner.