Scott Hanselman: An Inspiration

Even as I start this post, I get this feeling that some people will take this post as something other than what it is, but I’m going to write it anyway.

Just so we are clear.

I’m not trying to get in good with Scott.

I don’t gain anything from this post.

I’m not getting paid to write this.

Truth is, I’ve never met the man 🙂 I don’t know Scott personally!

My only interaction with Scott has been the few tweets we have exchanged and that’s about it.

So, what’s with the post you ask?

I don’t say this often about anyone (in fact, I rarely make statements like this!), but honestly, Scott inspires me. It’s a loaded statement. I’ll try to explain without writing an essay.

Whatever I know of/about Scott, is based on what he shares on hanselman.com. If you haven’t done so, please go have a look.

It’s pretty obvious that Scott leads a busy life. I’m not going to list everything he does here because it would be a long list to compile!

There’s good busy and bad busy and from what I can gather, Scott seems to lead a good busy kind of life. Of course, if we were having a chat in person, he may not necessarily describe it in such simple terms!

I’m inspired and encouraged by Scott because all that he’s doing with/in his life (as a geek), is what I’d one day like to be doing with mine and in some ways, working towards. Of course, I do have other matters that are dearer to my heart than geek stuff, as I’m certain Scott does too. He manages to do all that he does (code, speak, teach, travel, podcast etc.) without sacrificing his relationships, especially with his wife and children.

If Scott can do it, then there is no reason that I can’t. Granted, there are a number of variables that are different about our lives, but at the end of the day, Scott does more with the 24 hours he has, than many of us do with the 24 hours we have. I’m not saying that Scott’s the only person who does this. I am sure there are others.

Point is, I am inspired and encouraged by him because I’d like to do something similar with my life and the fact that Scott is living proof, means that my dreams/goals aren’t too farfetched.

Today, I had a chance to listen to “3.0.1 Cancer” from “This Developer’s life” podcast, where Scott and his wife Mo share about her cancer scare. It was honest and real and refreshing to hear both of them be candid. I believe things are better for them now, at least I pray so. Again, by doing this, Scott demonstrated that as a geek, you don’t always have to talk tech stuff and that it’s OK to share other aspects of your life, something I also like to do. Needless to say, it increased my respect for Scott.

Another thing that impresses me about Scott is that on Twitter, despite the number of followers he has, he always makes time to respond to as many people as possible. I know this because he has responded to my questions/comments a few times. He doesn’t have to, but he chooses to. That may not amount to much for some, but to me, to be acknowledged means a lot. So, thank you Scott, for making time for folks like me.

Amazing how one man can battle Type 1 Diabetes, be an involved husband and father who is there/around (so it seems to me), work as much as he does, speak as much as he does, travel as much as he does, podcast as much as he does, tweet and do whatever else he does and still manage to keep his sanity and keep going.

Thank you Scott, for sharing your life with us, the way you have, for giving us a glimpse of what’s possible.

Most of us have benefited from Scott and we can show him our support/appreciation by a) reading what’s on this page http://hnsl.mn/fightdiabetes and b) by donating whatever you can (http://hanselman.com/fightdiabetes/donate) to fight Diabetes!

I have shared only a little about Scott. Please visit hanselman.com if you’d like to know more. You can also tweet him (@shanselman) if you like, but be aware that he may or may not get back to you, simply because he may not have seen your tweet.

Thanks for reading.

[box] Thank you Scott, for replying to my email, for giving me the OK to post this and for allowing me to use your picture :)[/box]

Thank Sri 🙂