by L. Lee

Created on: August 13, 2008

What do you need to know to be considered "computer-savvy"? Nobody - not Bill Gates, not your know-it-all family member, and not the nieghbourhood fix-it person - no one knows everything there is to know about computers. There is just way too much TO know, and even if someone was able to master everything there was to know today, tomorrow they would have gaps. It is just not possible to learn everything - which means that to be computer-savvy, you don't have to know everything either.

You really only need to know one thing - how to find out what you want to know. And that is easy: pretty much everything you could ever want to know about computers (and about just about everything else, as well) is all available right here, on the Internet.

You just have to BELIEVE.

The best way to become computer-savvy is to put your hands on the keyboard - and the mouse - and get at 'er!

#1. Do you want to know 'it' works?

Find out. Ask someone that might know or look it up for yourself - Google is your friend ...and so are Wikipedia or any of thousands of other sites. Everything you want to know is probably available on the Internet. All you have to do is BELIEVE that you will find 'it' - and keep trying until you do.

#2. Do you want to know how to do something new?

Do it! Experiment. Play. Try one way - and if that does not work, try another. You are highly unlikely to break anything, honest. I promise! BELIEVE that you CAN do it - because you CAN ... if only you keep trying. If you really get stuck, go back up to #1 and try those strategies.

I teach computer subjects - basics to beginners, and more advanced topics to more experienced users - and can confidently state that the difference between newbies and the computer savvy comes down to just that one word.

BELIEVE

The computer-savvy folk are the ones that uncross their arms, quit waiting for me to tell them what to do, and get busy figuring it out. Because they BELIEVE that they can.

They are the ones that hold their cursors over the buttons and see what they say they are going to do. And then they try them.

They are the ones that use Help, actually read error messages, and right-click to just to see what options come up.

And they are the ones that help the people around them - because, of course, the best way to get REALLY good at anything is to teach someone else.

So if you want to be computer-savvy - there is your answer.
BELIEVE that you can do what you want to do with your computer.
BELIEVE that you can figure out what you want to know.
BELIEVE that the answer is out there somewhere.
Just BELIEVE - and get playing.

And once you learn something - teach it to someone else.

You CAN do it.

I BELIEVE

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