This is an area that I’ve decided that I’d like to improve. Some people have new year’s resolutions or whatnot, but I create new goals as I determine the “need”. It’s been my observation that I don’t articulate my thoughts all that well consistently enough to feel satisfied. Saying what I think is one thing. Saying what I’m thinking/observing in a way that translates well to others with as little distortion as possible is something else.
I am incredibly fortunate to have some role models and mentors in my life now that stretch me in this area. Really stretch me in ways that I haven’t been pushed since that second stint in graduate school. The initiation of these Performance topic posts is a result of this goal and an opportunity to practice, practice, practice.
I’m a funny bird. After having some excellent heart to hearts with a friend that I respect and trust completely, we’ve identified in me a NEED to to push myself to some definition of excellence in a chosen domain. It’s not an attitude that I think I’m particularly great at stuff. On the contrary, I consider myself average to above average in a variety of areas but exceptional at nothing. I just feel compelled to focus on pushing myself within a particular domain for several years before moving on to something else, but with the intent of retaining and building on previously developed domains (as much as feasible given limited time and cycles of priorities).
One lesson I learned from the heart to heart is that I shouldn’t assume that others are similarly motivated as I am. I’m sure that among the endurance athlete population, this is a little more common, but there are plenty of perfectly adept, high-performing individuals that don’t feel the need to push themselves to the same degree. They draw their motivation from other sources. Alas, I’m human and humans tend to overestimate the degree that others view the world in the same way. False consensus error, if I recall correctly.
So here’s me publicly sharing a goal. Keep me honest and let me know when I don’t make sense to you. I welcome the feedback and am well aware that I could do a far better job of unpacking the meaning of a lot of things I think I know.
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