First off, I must give credit for the word “biggifying” to the creative mastermind of Havi Brooks. I took a class called Non-Icky Self-Promotion for Wimps from her and Naomi Dunford (of Ittybiz) in which I was introduced to the concept of biggification, and it’s just so fun to say and write that it’s started appearing everywhere in my mental landscape.

Sure, I could refer to growth, or stretching, or expanding, or even branching out (which would fit well with the whole Small-Business Tree metaphor-thing I’ve got going), and those would all be accurate. But today I’m having fun saying “biggification.” Makes me feel playful and swaggery at the same time. So thanks Havi!!

Last week I urged you to give Firefox a try, to broaden your web-browsing experience beyond the limits of Internet Explorer. Then I wrote about my migration from Blogger to WordPress. This week, it strikes me that both of these are linked by a theme: Biggifying through technology choices.

I’ll bet you’ve experienced the technology-biggification process before. Maybe your old computer got too slow, or didn’t have enough memory, or couldn’t handle some software you needed. Maybe you were using a decade-old word-processing program and finally sprang for the upgrade. Maybe you got tired of an email address you picked back when you were just using email for fun, not for business.

It starts as an itch. Something isn’t as comfortable as it once was. You start to wonder if a faster computer, a new piece of software, a new email address would improve things. You hear things from friends and maybe read reviews, and begin to imagine how much more you’d get done, how much easier things would be, how much more quickly you could do what you need to do.

The itch grows to frustration. Your computer sucks! This software is for the birds! You tell your friends not to email you anymore because your email isn’t working. You’re tired of living with stone-age technology!

You are like a snake shedding its skin. At first it was just a few scales loosening, growing rough and itchy. Now the entire thing is practically hanging loose, ready to slip off. All you need is a few more scrapes against the rocks of frustration and there, it starts to peel off in one big piece. You’re squirming and wriggling and then you’re free. You’ve bought the computer, upgraded the software, logged into your new email account. Everything is shiny and new.

And then it hits you: You can’t go back. You can try, but that old skin is just too small and will never fit properly again. It starts to itch like crazy the second you put it back on, and it’s already in pieces.

Now you have to learn something new. What the hell are you doing here? What were you thinking? This is going to take forever! Forget productivity improvement, you are at the bottom of the learning curve and it looks impossibly steep from here. Time to go back to bed and pull the covers over your head.

And you know what? That’s OK. Biggifying can be really scary and hard. You’re not alone, and you’re not crazy. In fact, you’re doing better than you think you are. You shed that skin, didn’t you? You tried something new. That’s huge. Now is the time for compassion and patience (with yourself). Baby steps. Asking for support and searching for tutorials (trust me, they exist — whatever your tech issue is, you are surely not the first person to have it!).

And when you get past the steep part of the learning curve, when you’re enjoying your new computer or writing happily in your word-processor or blazing through emails, you’ll think “How did I ever get along without this new cool thing?”

And maybe, just maybe, you’ll recognize that itch to biggify a little earlier next time. You’ll think, “I remember this feeling. Instead of getting frustrated and exasperated, it’s time to biggify! It’ll be hard, but it will be so worth it.”

This week’s heart of the matter: Yep, biggification can be hard (especially when we’re talking technology). But it’s so worth it. Where are you feeling that itch? What technological tools and services are feeling a bit too small? What one tiny step toward tech biggification could you take today? Comment here and share your challenges, and I’ll celebrate your triumphs with you!

Have you ever thanked your computer?

You’ve probably cussed it out after it crashed, or maybe you’ve taken Microsoft’s name in vain when your latest spreadsheet or document vanished, but have you ever taken the time for a simple “thank you” when it’s working right?

I know it may seem a little strange — after all, your computer isn’t going to pipe up and say “hey, you’re welcome, I really enjoy processing your commands” (and if it did, you’d probably think you had an evil self-aware 2001-type monster on your hands).

But think about it for a second — you’re reading these words on a computer screen, either on my blog or in your email inbox. For that to happen, your computer has to connect to a mind-bogglingly huge network at speeds faster than light, find this page (or this email) specifically, and make it appear on your screen. And that’s only a tiny subset of the things that need to go right for this seemingly simple act, reading a blog post, to succeed.

Just to be clear, I don’t think of my computer as an entity with personality, or agency, or self-awareness. When I practice gratitude for my computer, I don’t address it personally. I tend to direct my gratitude outward, to the thousands of people who made it possible for me to be typing and surfing and posting. The people who designed and built my laptop, the service that delivered it, the folks at the phone company who keep the network humming. When I expand my gratitude-focus this way, the universe appears to be a grand conspiracy, engineered behind the scenes for my benefit.

Thank you, Macbook. Thank you, Blogger.com. Thank you, ICANN and GoDaddy and geeks everywhere who are exponentially increasing the ease with which I can do things online.

Try it — you just might like it!

This week’s heart of the matter: Take a moment for gratitude. Specifically, gratitude for technology. Yes, it can be frustrating and difficult, but if you’re reading this on a computer screen, something must be going right!