by Jared Goralnick
When you enjoy and are good at a lot of stuff, it’s easy to take on many things…but difficult to truly kick ass at one.
If you have a web browser or a newspaper it’s hard not to notice just how much further along some people are than you…at least in some way. Inspiring at times, it can also be depressing.
Well, I’m tired of this. And I have an idea.
Tonight I was reading Leo Babauta’s book and one of his concepts resonated with something I’ve long held true—that you can’t truly succeed if you don’t restrict your ambitions and efforts to fewer goals. This isn’t a revolutionary idea, but it’s something we all likely need to revisit in our minds from time to time.
Then in bed I started thinking about the so-called thought leaders I know, about what they speak about, and what they’re good at. I contrasted that with my own experiences in the different communities online and in DC I am a part of, and where I’ve been able to build the strongest relationships and effect the most change.
I realized I was involved in a number of tangents; i.e., places where the results weren’t aligned with my strongest purposes—my themes.
Tangents aren’t bad, per se, but they’re distracting. They can be more pernicious when you find yourself getting competitive in a field that you have no need or strong basis for being a leader. It’s easy to get frustrated by drawing comparisons between yourself and others, but it’s just not relevant much of the time.
So how does one avoid this? I decided to go back to my theme for the year and consider if any other themes truly mattered. I realized immediately that much of the stuff that was bugging me just wasn’t that important to my deeper ambitions. I also realized that the situations where I keep saying to people, “no, really, I’m just doing this because I want to help and don’t have a vested interest” are probably things that I’ll have to stop soon.
I need to master the process of growing a user base for AwayFind, I need to make an impact on a larger number of people’s personal productivity (yes this relates to the first point), and I need to slow down from time to time to let life hit me in full. Those are my themes.
Take a minute to write down what three ambitions, themes, or goals you have for the next several months.
I can participate in other projects. And I will. But I don’t need to be the best with these. And if it doesn’t work out, or I deliver subpar on them then oh well—these are just life’s tangents after all.
I’d suggest holding onto this thought until the next time you’re jealous or distracted. What do you tihnk?
You should really subscribe to Technotheory via 
email or rss.
Jared -
You’re addressing a key issue that is becoming harder and harder as distractions multiply in today’s environment and one is tempted to work on or find out about anything and everything. I agree with you about the need to screen off working on tangents if you want to succeed on your core ambitions and goals. I think one of the hardest parts, though, is to keep a broad focus on learning and taking in information – because it is often learning about things that seem totally tangential that will end up creating the rich knowledge base that fuels future core ambitions and goals – and yet be disciplined enough to not get tempted into working on everything one is finding out about.
Also, if you have any tips about productivity as it applies to learning, I’d be very interested.
I really like this post. Thanks for putting up content that is refreshing and useful. Much appreciated and it is definitely the reason I am a regular reader of your blog. Thanks Jared.
Victoria, you’re absolutely right about the challenge. I feel like I’m overdue for a learning spree, especially when I’m surrounded by, well, really smart people (which is sometimes). I have an interview I’ll be posting here soon that touches on this, but I don’t know the answer since the interviewee is saying that one should really spend hours every day learning.
It’s a tough balance, but I think it’s a matter of what stage you’re at. Food for future thought. Thanks as always for your insight.
Thanks, Jen! :-)
This a great post, and good “kick” to get me thinking about my mantra for 2009. I’ve dubbed it “don’t eat yellow snow.” I describe this in more detail on the blog, but the heart of it is don’t bother going where others have already marked their territory, and be brave enough to be original in all spheres of life.
Thanks, Gayle, I enjoyed your post, too : )