Page 7 - Audacity - Edition 1

Shortly after I completed my engineering degree in the UK, I had to go to

work in a manufacturing facility in England to get "practical experience"

as they called it. The technicians, many who’d been there for many years,

had certain routines from which I picked up some real "life experiences

and practices."

It's always amazing what important principles you can take away, even if

you go on to do something completely different in life.

Every technician had a "toolbox" which they looked after lovingly. It was

almost like a "rite of passage." At the end of each day, they’d boast to each

other about the tools they’d managed to acquire, and what they were

used for. They would clean their tools after the day was over.

Buying and investing in good quality tools was considered a technician’s

personal responsibility, not the employer’s.

I would always lose my plastic pen. Then someone said, "You would not

lose it, if you invested in a proper pen."

"Wow," I thought. "This is just like those old English technicians and their

tools."

That day, I went out and bought myself a nice set of pens. I immediately

stopped losing pens!

Question: What are the "tools of your trade"?

Do you have your own computer? Everyone who runs a modern busi-

ness, or works in a profession, should have a laptop.

A computer is not even a "tool"; it's the "toolbox" in which most all the

modern technological tools are kept.