Practice, practice, practice
Tired of hacking around being mediocre and that one true calling you have in life? Have you been practicing for years but have still not had that big breakthrough moment?
You might just need some more practice. I have only been really, really good at a few things in my life and never anywhere near genius. In every single one of those endeavors I practiced for many years. I’m not talking a couple hours hear and there. I mean multiple hours every night for several years.
And, it left me very worn out by the time I was 21 and very reluctant to spend any time with those hobbies afterward. But, I did get very good.
Now, as an adult, I like hobbies. They come and go and help keep me entertained. But, sometimes I feel like really dedicating myself to something…anything…to get really, really good at something again. I normally spend a few months, get slightly better, and then move on to something else because I get frustrated with how slowly I am progressing.
If I took all of my start and stops with my hobbies like running and writing over the last ten years, I would probably be trying to qualify for the Olympics in the Marathon and getting ready to show up again on Oprah to have her help promote yet another book.
I think our culture focuses a lot on the outcome and very little on how to get there. We all want to be the next Bill Gates, Stephen King, Michael Jordan, or Bon Jovi. We fantasize about how great life will be when we make the breakthrough and get the wealth, fame, and success we crave.
But, we conveniently ignore the sleepless nights and constant work the Greats put into their craft before they become Greats. Michael Jordan was not dunking on the neighborhood kids when he was 10. Stephen King was not selling millions of copies of the first thing he ever wrote.
They accepted their short comings, practiced to eliminate those weaknesses, and never gave up through the many years of obscurity. And, then they reaped their rewards once they developed their skill level past where normal people go.
My lesson in all of this is that just because I’m not a young kid, doesn’t mean that I can’t become great at something. It just means I won’t be great at it at 31. Maybe if I get started now, it will happen by the time I’m 41.
What’s on your 10 year plan?
Technorati Tags: genius, practice, writing fiction
November 14th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
I’d really like to host a game show one of these days, but the goal I’ve been focused on for the past two years is getting a regular column in a national women’s magazine. Since I live in Canada, the odds are good one day, horrid the next as the publishing industry is riskier than investing in dot-com startups.
November 15th, 2006 at 11:32 pm
My ten year plan? Do that which I love, whatever that happens to be at the moment, and to do it with joy. That, and to intake air.
November 16th, 2006 at 5:03 pm
“Do that which I love, whatever that happens to be at the moment, and to do it with joy.”
I do a lot of that myself. I bounce from thing to thing like a three year old. It is often entertaining, but sometimes I wish I had spent a little time focusing on something and getting pretty good at it.
I just have to figure out what those one or two things are going to be.
November 16th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Bonnie,
I read your blog enough to think you would be really good getting some kind of column in the print world. Let me know when it happens so I can subscribe to it. And, yes, feel free to tell all magazines that if they sign you to a coumn they can count on at least one more guaranteed subscriber.
November 19th, 2006 at 10:36 am
Ten year plan? I don’t even have a ten minute plan?
Best wishes
November 19th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
Stop it Mike! You’re making me blush!
November 20th, 2006 at 7:42 am
There is no time, no time, no time. I have used up all my time which might’ve been dedicated to those pursuits. And where has this time gone? To the family. To the job. To making sure that the house is comfortable, the children are clothed and fed, the wife is secure and safe, that the lines of communication are open to all the extended family members. At the end of the day, there is neither time nor energy for those things for which my selfish heart yearns; and that is fine with me. I made a decision years ago to marry, to have children, to raise a family; and if all my personal ambitions are never realized, it will be enough to have dedicated that time to loving my family and being the best husband/father I can be.
And maybe, after all, that’s where my true skill lies - in knowing how to love my family so that they can realize their own personal ambitions. Some day.
November 21st, 2006 at 1:55 pm
There you go Rob. Dedicate 10 years to being the best dad/husband. Nothing wrong with that expertise.
I’m working on that. But, in the spare minutes that I do have, I feel like I need to try to focus on a couple things to get good at.
Part of the reason is so that the other stuff I can put on the much more casual hobby status. I used to want to be a great runner. Now I think I’m going to put that on casual hobby status and just try to do enough to stay in shape.
November 21st, 2006 at 2:08 pm
I know what you mean about hopping from one thing to another like a three year old after eating too many ‘E’ numbers. I tell myself it’s the curse of having an open and inventive mind.
I’ll have to be pedantic though and say that if you mean Stephen King didn’t sell millions of copies of the first novel he wrote then you’d be a little bit south of correct….Carrie
November 21st, 2006 at 2:13 pm
I’m pretty sure Carrie wasn’t the first book he ever wrote. I think I remember reading in one of the prefaces of one of the books that his first book is buried in a shoe box to never see the light of day.