Building our strengths -- then building on them
No one can do it — unless they have equipment and training. (Image by David Mark)
In his now-classic book that inspired a generation of digital nomads, Tim Ferriss points out that an unreasonable or unrealistic goal is easier to achieve than a reasonable or realistic one.
Meanwhile, Cal Newport, in his book How to be a High School Superstar, shares the value of doing things that are fairly easy but sound impressive. Why compete with dozens of others to be valedictorian when you can put your energy into fundraising for your very own nonprofit?
And in another of Newport’s books, the author suggests that leveraging skills you’re already good at to become even better is the path to a fulfilling career.
When you put these bits of advice together, the path forward looks something like this:
Pick an audacious, impressive-sounding goal that is aligned with skills and knowledge you already have.
Use the energy and excitement of this big goal to generate momentum
Use that momentum (and your growing skills) to pivot to another audacious, impressive-sounding goal.
Enjoy the fun and fulfillment of not only the results, but also the process.
I’ll share an example from my own life to illustrate the point. When I was in high school, I was a really good student. I worked hard, but I didn’t struggle to get the work done. I pretty much just did it. I loved to learn. I also loved to read and picked up new words easily. My academic skills were well-suited to testing, which is, for better or worse, the primary metric of student success. When I saw that I was getting straight A’s, I decided to keep it going.
During the same period of my life, music did not come as easily to me. However, I put a lot of effort into it. I spent a few years learning piano, so it was fairly easy to learn guitar when the opportunity arose. I then took advantage of what I had learned on guitar to improve my piano skills. After that, I took up electric bass and trombone. I wasn’t very good at the last two instruments, but I was good enough to play in ensembles. I also participated in every choir offered at my high school as well as every musical.
I decided that I wanted a career in music education, so I applied to study at the University of Maine. And here’s what happened: The director of choral activities at the University of Maine, Dr. Dennis K. Cox, called me at home to encourage me to attend the university on a tuition waiver.
It wasn’t because I was such an accomplished musician — despite my impressive-sounding musical resume, I was badly in need of mentorship. However, my SAT scores were so high that they would actually bring up the department average. Therefore, I got into the music department and went to college “for free” as a result of my strength as a test-taker — which, in turn, came from my dedication to schoolwork.
As a teenager, I wasn’t fully aware of all the opportunities that were out there, so I probably could have set a bigger goal if I had been more savvy. However, going to college on a scholarship meant that I didn’t have a ton of debt when I emerged from school; that, in turn, allowed me to take a chance and move to a new city and start my own business. Staying true to the process derived from Ferriss and Newport, I continued to build on what was working to start another business, and another. It’s enough to make me glad I studied for exams when I was fourteen.
It might sound impressive that I have multiple businesses or play six instruments or whatever. But these things are the result of slowly cultivating my strengths and building on them. They sound impressive without having actually been that difficult to accomplish. And you have such things, too. I know I have readers who speak multiple languages, who run businesses while also caring for their children, who make art in multiple media, who have contributed decades of service to recovery programs, or who are sought after in their professions. You might not realize how impressive you are to others.
It was very tempting to give short shrift to my academic work in favor of pursuing music. I’m very glad I didn’t do that. The skills we take for granted can actually be the engine of our success, and the accomplishments we blow off as something anyone could do are the ones that may be the most impressive to others. Furthermore, the goals that seem out of reach might actually be well within in our grasp, were we to commit to them fully.
What could this approach look like for you? To what extent have you already been on this path, perhaps without realizing it?
