What do you want to be good at?
Jan 19, 10:37 PM by Eric Allen
Today I decided I want to be a better skier. My friend Eric (yes, same first name) gave me one little suggestion while we were on the slopes this morning: shift your weight before you move your skis on a turn. That one tip improved my skiing by, oh, 30%? But I want to do better. I want to ski moguls, ice, double black-diamonds, and enjoy all of it. Do I have natural “talent” for skiing? Not really. However, I thoroughly enjoy it, and I intend to improve. I’ve found something that I enjoy practicing.
So focus on the process when you pick your goal. Stop thinking about the end goal just for a minute so you can test yourself – would you really enjoy the life that would require all that practice time? Find something where the answer is yes. Because you will naturally restructure your day to accommodate that process if you are aiming to be great at something you love to practice.
from This is why all your goals are bad for you by Penelope Trunk
On the flip side, I spent this evening delving into the performance of my portfolio over the last eight years. I have been investing in stocks since I bought my first share of Microsoft (my dad was my broker until 2000) in 1996. How have I done? Not bad. Not good, either. Since 2004, I have performed above the major market indexes for about half the time, and below them the other half. Right now I’m dead-on with the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P500. If I want to do well at stock picking, I’d better improve.
I don’t want to, though. Would I enjoy practicing investing every day? No. Will I enjoy the outcome? Not really. Money doesn’t mean that much to me. It’s always been a number in a spreadsheet (or now, on a website). It’s abstract, and it doesn’t do a heck of a lot for me. I’m still not entirely decided, but at this point I don’t think I want to be good at investing.
Spending some time choosing what I do want to be good at and what I don’t want to be good at helps me get my priorities in order. I want to dedicate as much of my life as possible to practicing the things that I want to be good at. I want to be good at programming, I want to be good at interaction design, and I want to be good at skiing. I’m sure I missed a few there, but those are the priorities for this semester. I’ll think about the future…in the future!
