To paraphrase the saying, a jack of all
trades is a master at none. Why is
that? If you spend your time doing a
hundred different things, you’ll be fairly decent at all of them, but never a
master at any of them.
For example, I read about a world-class chess
player (can’t remember his name and it’s not Kasparov), who had only one
interest, chess. He said that he was so
crazy about chess that he spent nearly every waking second thinking of it. In fact, it was so bad that his mother wanted
to take him to a mental hospital (apparently she didn’t). The point is, he is a genius chess player
because he spent all his time improving one skill.
So now the question is if we should do the
same. Pick something you want to be a
master at and obsess over it and spend no time on anything else. Personally, I think that might be a bit
overboard, but the fact of the matter is that you will be better at something
the more time you spend at working with it.
Therefore, if you follow me so far, choose
your battles. Limit your choices and
make sure that every minute you spend is spent the way you want. I’ve often seen people saying that writers
should stop watching TV. I happen to
like TV and movies, so I wouldn’t cut it out.
You have to ask yourself, is this thing worth my time? Do I really want to spend time on this? (Just remember to give yourself some
off-time.)
Pick what you want to get great at and do
it. All the time. Then a master you will become.
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