The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
When I was in high school, I spent weeks trying to perfect my ability to type that phrase. I struggled to grasp the mechanics of the qwerty keyboard, so that when I went on to college I would be able to type up term papers in a reasonable amount of time without having to use a gallon of white out in the process. I hated typing. I did not want to learn it. It was boring and frustrating and not the slightest bit enjoyable, but I had to do it. My kids won’t have this experience.
My kids think nothing of typing. It is not very likely that they will take typing class. They can already type. They can’t write in cursive very well, but they can type. Because technology attached the keyboard to a computer, which is attached to the internet, which is attached to fun, my kids view typing as a pathway to entertainment and exploration – the same way I viewed writing or drawing. Typing is just a natural part of their creative process. It is something they just inherently know how to do without much explanation. The world changed, making typing more prevalent but eliminating the need for typing class in the process.
The good news is that we can now take classes in what to do with a qwerty keyboard, beyond just using it to pretty up a handwritten term paper. We can learn computer coding, explore graphic design, build websites, calculate complex equations, play games, and communicate and connect with people. Typing used to be the goal, now it’s just the price of admission – an assumption. Now, what’s important is what you can do with the keyboard, not just the fact that you are capable of using it at all.
Is your business like typing class? Are there things happening in the world around you that have unknowingly set you on a path to irrelevance? If the future of your business is based on the quick brown fox continuing to jump over the same old lazy dogs, you’ve got work to do.
