I have a bit of an obsession at the moment with trying to concentrate on things that I'm actually good at rather than spreading myself over lots of interesting things but achieving nothing. Which is pretty much what I've done for most of my life as far as I can remember. I've always been the sort of person who has aimed to be a jack-of-all-trades, having grown up admiring polymaths. In recent years, however, I have realised that I will never make a century at Lord's, delight the crowds at the Cambridge Folk Festival with my groovy dance-folk band, put fear into opposing players with my instinctive and aggressive back-row play, become rich and famous for developing amazing Python applications and killer web designs, or change the face of Christian children's work in Britain.
All of the above, at various points in my life, have been potential courses of action for me. Why haven't I, and won't I, achieve any of them? Because I always wanted to achieve /all/ of them. I never dropped anything to focus on being really good at something.
I asked my good friend George what he thought. George has always struck me as the classic polymath I wanted to be a bit like - he's a talented artist, a successful musician, a very good sportsman, self-employed, has found work as a freelance web designer, organises lots of local music events, and is kind, intelligent and good company, and has a Christian faith as well. George told me not to worry. He said most people he knew who were dedicated to excellence in one field were the poorer as personalities for it. He told me that the most important thing in life was not being great at things, but being the right kind of person.
That was a very nice thing for him to say.
However, with some encouragement from Jenny, I decided to acknowledge that I was never going to be a pro web designer, I was never going to get in shape and be committed enough (at my stage of life) to get back into playing rugby, I shouldn't stress about not playing my violin and accept that I am just not a natural songwriter or novelist, nor am I single-minded and ENFJ enough to be a leader in the field of Christian children's work. And as for the cricket... sob... well I'll just say I can't help but be waiting by the phone for Duncan Fletcher's call. But I don't even play all summer because of family and life and church and ... watching sport on TV.
So I have decided to concentrate on the few things in life that I feel I can be really quite good at, and to heck with the rest. These things include...
I hope that this concentration will counteract to some extent my procrastinatory and disorganisational tendencies by limiting the amount of stuff I try to deal with, and will make me a more focused, less stressed and more caring human being.
ip: 193.61.84.99 diff-major:Changed: 1c1
< I have a bit of an obsession at the moment with trying to concentrate on things that I'm actually good at rather than spreading myself over lots of interesting things but achieving nothing. Which is pretty much what I've done for most of my life as far as I can remember. I've always been the sort of person who has aimed to be a jack-of-all-trades, having grown up admiring polymaths. In recent years, however, I have realised that I will never make a century at Lord's, delight the crowds at the Cambridge Folk Festival with my groovy dance-folk band, put fear into opposing players with my instinctive and aggressive back-row play, become rich and famoous for developing amazing Python applications and killer web designs, or change the face of Christian children's work in Britain.
to
> I have a bit of an obsession at the moment with trying to concentrate on things that I'm actually good at rather than spreading myself over lots of interesting things but achieving nothing. Which is pretty much what I've done for most of my life as far as I can remember. I've always been the sort of person who has aimed to be a jack-of-all-trades, having grown up admiring polymaths. In recent years, however, I have realised that I will never make a century at Lord's, delight the crowds at the Cambridge Folk Festival with my groovy dance-folk band, put fear into opposing players with my instinctive and aggressive back-row play, become rich and famous for developing amazing Python applications and killer web designs, or change the face of Christian children's work in Britain.
Changed: 1c1
< I have a bit of an obsession at the moment with trying to concentrate on things that I'm actually good at rather than spreading myself over lots of interesting things but achieving nothing. Which is pretty much what I've done for most of my life as far as I can remember. I've always been the sort of person who has aimed to be a jack-of-all-trades, having grown up admiring polymaths. In recent years, however, I have realised that I will never make a century at Lord's, delight the crowds at the Cambridge Folk Festival with my groovy dance-folk band, put fear into opposing players with my instinctive and aggressive back-row play, become rich and famoous for developing amazing Python applications and killer web designs, or change the face of Christian children's work in Britain.
to
> I have a bit of an obsession at the moment with trying to concentrate on things that I'm actually good at rather than spreading myself over lots of interesting things but achieving nothing. Which is pretty much what I've done for most of my life as far as I can remember. I've always been the sort of person who has aimed to be a jack-of-all-trades, having grown up admiring polymaths. In recent years, however, I have realised that I will never make a century at Lord's, delight the crowds at the Cambridge Folk Festival with my groovy dance-folk band, put fear into opposing players with my instinctive and aggressive back-row play, become rich and famous for developing amazing Python applications and killer web designs, or change the face of Christian children's work in Britain.