PAL Revisited

It has been almost a year since I started this blog and I wanted to revisit what I mean and what I don’t mean by the PAL acronym (Perpetual Acumatica Learner).

PAL

My first post on the topic of PAL (I called it APAL at the time) was mainly to describe the difference between a learner and an expert.

However, recently I was feeling pressure from the word “perpetual” because I haven’t been spending enough time to learn Acumatica. I was beginning to think that I shouldn’t call myself a Perpetual Acumatica Learner anymore if I wasn’t spending every waking hour on Acumatica learning.

But, it’s just not possible to be learning Acumatica all the time. My wife and I have two kids, a mortgage, and a car payment. I also have a full-time job during the day. So, it’s just not possible to be learning Acumatica all the time.

What is possible is to always approach Acumatica as a learner. That I can do.

So, I am comfortable to call myself a Perpetual Acumatica Learner. When you are a learner, there are no such things as stupid questions or dumb ideas. Every time I sit down at my computer to spend time with Acumatica, my goal is simply to come away having learned something new.

It doesn’t matter to me where I am in the learning process and it doesn’t matter how fast I am learning. Others may pickup things faster than me and require less time to learn a new thing like Acumatica. But, when I spend time to learn Acumatica, I am simply content to have learned something new.

I am determined to take the approach of a tortoise.

So what about you?

If you are also learning Acumatica, I hope that you will also take the way of a Perpetual Acumatica Learner.

Even if you somehow reach a point where you know everything there is to know about Acumatica, there will always be different ways to apply that knowledge because every company is different. That is what makes the ERP world so interesting.

There is no such thing as a standard cookie-cutter implementation. Every company has unique requirements and many times those unique requirements are what give them a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

You may find yourself in a company that is implementing Acumatica and you are afraid of all the changes that are taking place. Don’t be afraid, just do your best to make progress, one step at a time.

You can ignore all the fast-talkers and those who try to make it seem like they know everything even when they don’t.

Just keep your head up and know that you are not the only one on this Acumatica learning journey. There are others out there and there will be more and more as Acumatica gains popularity.

Looking forward

I still have a lot to learn about Acumatica and I hope that will never change. No matter how much I learn, I will always realize that there is more to learn.

So, it’s time to settle into a nice long marathon pace and continue on as a Perpetual Acumatica Learner. Who’s with me?