Do You Choose What You Suck At?
We all come with many capabilities. Some are outstanding at one and others are good at several.
There is an old saying that captures this idea, ”Jack of many things, king of one.” Many years ago I had a friend that passed away, Gwenn, that was very talented who would say that she was the jack of many things and the queen of 1, 2,3…
The reality for most of us is that we are good at several things. Not great at several things but good. Good to me means you are in the top 20%. Great means you are in the top 10%.
So what does it take to become outstanding at one? Note the word outstanding means to stand out. That would take you in the top 1%.
In my opinion, you must actively choose to suck at most of the things that you are good at AND strategically pick the one you will be outstanding at. There is a saying that I am fond of, “Just because you can do it does not mean you should be doing it.” Just because you can do those good things does not mean you should continue doing them.
For example…
I am good at cutting my grass and keeping my yard neat BUT maybe I need to focus on things that make me money. Paying someone to cut my grass might cost 20–40 dollars but I can earn much more per hour makes little sense.
Similarly, even though I have an engineering background and I am a good engineer, that should not be my only focus when I am serving as a project manager where my focus should be on people, funding, and engineering. I might be interested in engineering and keep an eye on it BUT to succeed I need to focus on things that I need to be outstanding in.
Letting go of some control or being willing to allow others to play to their strengths while you focus on yours is tough. BUT it is necessary to be able to focus and improve from great to an outstanding level.
I use the word actively earlier. You must force yourself to choose not to do those things in order to focus on the one thing you are working on being outstanding. It is easy to slide back into routine and go back to doing the things you are good at.
This has to be a 100% stop. Your identity has to become the thing you are pursuing to be outstanding in.
What does this mean?
If you are a smoker and decide to quit. No matter what tools you use, you will fail unless your thought process identifies you as a non-smoker to yourself. You want to use the words, “I am not the type of person who smokes.”
AND emphasize the positive version…
I am outstanding at X!!!
(even though you have not reached that level yet)
It is a journey and you have to be willing for the journey to take twice as long as you expect. That expectation will deter you from quitting early when you start experiencing setbacks.
I hope you think through this article and start the process by identifying several good things and one outstanding thing. Then pause and really ask yourself if the journey will transform you into the person you want to become AND whether it is worth the pursuit.
My four cents…
