Sometimes my worlds collide in a beautiful way. Other times, it's a beautiful mess. I've noticed a couple of themes in the fitness community that I can also apply to the Tableau/dataviz community.
Plow Your Own Furrow
In fitness, it seems like everyone is passionate about their thing. If you're not keto, you aren't smart. If you're not vegan, you're an awful human being. If you're not eating a donut because #foodfreedom, you're well, I'll employ a saying my grandmother once said, "Bless your heart." Which in southern terms is like, "bless your stupid heart." In fitness, i try different things based on my goals, but it all comes down to doing what works best for me. I like counting macros because of the science behind it. I can also figure out what amount of protein, carbs, & fats work for me based on my goals (cutting for a fitness competition means a low carb, keto-like approach for me). Keto does not work for me when running a half marathon (trust me, I was incoherent afterwards. Not cool).
In Tableau and dataviz, I see the same theme. We are super passionate about Tableau and our coding, Makeover Monday, Workout Wednesday niches and I think it's great! We can gain so much from being engaged...regardless of the niche. If I put my mom hat on, I'd offer a warning to not be so into our thing that we make it exclusive, not inclusive. But it's not just in Tableau.
When I went to OpenVis, I found it interesting that it was so code heavy. It was almost like a d3 conference. When mentioning Tableau, it was almost like I was talking about a cute little cub in comparison to a bear. Even though the name of the conference is OpenVis, I thought the content was more about how to code the vis than the vis itself.
My point, is that we all have our thing. And I love that we're passionate about it. But let's make sure we're inclusive (& not just to those who want to join us in our thing), not exclusive.
Plow Your Own Furrow
In fitness, it seems like everyone is passionate about their thing. If you're not keto, you aren't smart. If you're not vegan, you're an awful human being. If you're not eating a donut because #foodfreedom, you're well, I'll employ a saying my grandmother once said, "Bless your heart." Which in southern terms is like, "bless your stupid heart." In fitness, i try different things based on my goals, but it all comes down to doing what works best for me. I like counting macros because of the science behind it. I can also figure out what amount of protein, carbs, & fats work for me based on my goals (cutting for a fitness competition means a low carb, keto-like approach for me). Keto does not work for me when running a half marathon (trust me, I was incoherent afterwards. Not cool).
In Tableau and dataviz, I see the same theme. We are super passionate about Tableau and our coding, Makeover Monday, Workout Wednesday niches and I think it's great! We can gain so much from being engaged...regardless of the niche. If I put my mom hat on, I'd offer a warning to not be so into our thing that we make it exclusive, not inclusive. But it's not just in Tableau.
When I went to OpenVis, I found it interesting that it was so code heavy. It was almost like a d3 conference. When mentioning Tableau, it was almost like I was talking about a cute little cub in comparison to a bear. Even though the name of the conference is OpenVis, I thought the content was more about how to code the vis than the vis itself.
My point, is that we all have our thing. And I love that we're passionate about it. But let's make sure we're inclusive (& not just to those who want to join us in our thing), not exclusive.
Build and love your tribe, but not exclusively.
In 2015, I flew down to Elizabethtown, Kentucky by myself, not knowing a soul. I was scared, especially as an introvert. After that weekend though, I found my tribe. These are women who are like-minded and who understand that lifting doesn't make women look like men. From that moment on, these women have supported me in my big scary goals, supported me when I want to say eff it, I quit; and who help me celebrate successes. I don't think I could have done my first fitness competition without some of the women in my tribe. These are people who give and expect nothing in return.
One of the best things about Tableau is the community. I've mentioned it before, but it's what got me hooked. Tableau is a tool, but the people make it amazing. I've built a tribe of some really awesome people, those who I look up to and want to emulate, those who have my back, no matter what, and those who celebrate my successes. Without this tribe, using Tableau Public wouldn't be nearly as fun. I can only hope some community members have me in their tribe too. Find your folks (conference meetups are great for that), engage with them, ask them how you can help, support them and in return, you will have a tribe that you love hard.
In 2015, I flew down to Elizabethtown, Kentucky by myself, not knowing a soul. I was scared, especially as an introvert. After that weekend though, I found my tribe. These are women who are like-minded and who understand that lifting doesn't make women look like men. From that moment on, these women have supported me in my big scary goals, supported me when I want to say eff it, I quit; and who help me celebrate successes. I don't think I could have done my first fitness competition without some of the women in my tribe. These are people who give and expect nothing in return.
One of the best things about Tableau is the community. I've mentioned it before, but it's what got me hooked. Tableau is a tool, but the people make it amazing. I've built a tribe of some really awesome people, those who I look up to and want to emulate, those who have my back, no matter what, and those who celebrate my successes. Without this tribe, using Tableau Public wouldn't be nearly as fun. I can only hope some community members have me in their tribe too. Find your folks (conference meetups are great for that), engage with them, ask them how you can help, support them and in return, you will have a tribe that you love hard.
RSS Feed
