Good at many things/Great at nothing... Is this a common problem?

[godofgamblers]

You're asking people how to be world class at something, which there's serveral problems:

1. Nobody on here that's going to reply is world class at anything significant.
2. If they were, they probably wouldn't even be able to teach you how to.
3. If their advice actually worked, hundreds others would have read the advice thus negating the effectiveness of the advice in being "world class"

Besides those obvious problems, I think most people will be able to see that if you were world class at anything, you would probably know by now. You're probably experiencing the typical teen I-can-do-anything-I-want-better-than-anyone syndrome which is so common, read up on it in psych. (obv it's actually called something else but I forget) Just be logical and realize that you cannot start a post asking others how to be world class, since it's ALMOST paradoxical in nature.

[CarlSpackler]

I can definitely relate to this problem. I'm a very quick learner, and can become good at doing something much quicker than most other people. Eventually, however, I'll reach a certain point where I don't want to put in the time and effort to improve further, and/or I just lose interest in the activity in question.

The biggest obstacle for me becoming an expert in anything, let alone world class, is that the better I become at something, the more work and effort I need to put in to further improve in that particular endeavor, and it snowballs uphill -- it's the basic diminishing returns principal. It definitely requires a leap of faith to put in the time, energy, and effort it takes to reach an expert, and then eventually world class, level of proficiency in a certain activity. There are no guarantees.

I think this is what has held me back in the past. For example, I can completely dedicate myself to learning and developing myself into a world class poker player, but there's no guarantee that I'll ever reach my goal. This is one of my greatest fears -- spending the next decade putting in the time, work, and effort to achieve this goal (or any other goal for that matter), but ultimately failing. Waking up 10 years from now and realizing that it hasn't happened, and probably never will. It's sort of like those people who go to Hollywood and dedicate their lives to try and make it in acting, only to wake up one day when they're 35 and finally realize that it's not going to happen.

Recently, however, I've come to the realization that in order to be great at anything, you have to be willing to lose everything. I could dedicate the next 10 years of my life to trying to become a world class poker player, or world class in some other endeavor, and end up failing to meet my goal, perhaps even miserably. Much of that 10 years of my life may then seem like a waste. It's definitely a gamble. By taking this gamble, however, I am giving myself an opportunity to achieve my goal.

What's the alternative? Playing it safe. Never taking the gamble and making the sacrifices necessary to become truly great at anything. This is the path most people choose. It's quite cowardly. This is also the path which I have been struggling to get off of, and in order to do so, I'll have to take a leap of faith.

And you know what? It's about time I stop monkeying around, procrastinating, and making excuses not to take this gamble.


"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference." -- Robert Frost

"Those people who tell you not to take chances, they are all missing on what life's about. You only live once so take hold of the chance, don't end up like others, same song and dance." -- Metallica

"Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration." -- Thomas Edison

"You already possess everything necessary to become great." -- Crow Indian Proverb

[gholizad]

In takes a lot of effort to be a world class in any field. I play chess too and I consider myself a decent player. I have a friend who started playing chess seriously about the same time as me. We were going to the same school and we talked a lot about chess those days. He always wanted to take it to the next level but I prefered to focus on my studies and school stuff. He even took a couple of semesters off because he had tough tournaments at the time of final exams but I never did anything like that. Now he is an IM and I am just nothing but a decent above average player. I mean I could easily be much much better if I took his path but I did not want to. All I am saying is that, you can not expect to be a world class player unless you spend a whole lot of time and energy on it and it is way more difficult than it looks like.

[Jobless23]

I'm convinced you started this post to brag about beating that guy in chess. I'll stroke your ego. Nice job!!! Way to go!!! Yeah!!!

[swingdoc]

I think a lot of posters seem to be missing the point of OP's question. Clearly he understands that certain folks just have a natural proclivity for certain activities. He also clearly understands that a LOT of work is required to attain the highest levels of mastery. I think what he really wants to know is what drives those few elite folks in any given field to sacrifice (exchange sac? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]) so many other parts of their lives for that one passion.

I think the real questions are: What drives some people to sacrifice and work enough to maximize their abilities in any given field? Why do others never find a field that they are willing to sacrifice for? Or are they incapable of that single-minded passion?

I personally believe that one's self-worth has to be somehow caught up in that endeavor. Just think of how it feels to execute a beautiful mating combination. Now multiply that by a thousand. Also take the pain of losing and multiply it so that your very self worth is contingent upon the outcome of that chess game. Now would you be motivated to be the very best chess player you possibly can be? Read interviews by great men and women in any field. Over and over you will find that whatever they excel at DEFINES WHO THEY ARE.

Why do some people experience this? I certainly cannot answer that. I have no idea. Can you produce this in yourself and, if so, should you? Again, I do not know. I hope this is more on track and that it gives you something to think about.

[Freelancer]

To be the best in anything it has to flow through your veins and occupy your thoughts at all time.

Its not really something that can be teached by anyone, perhaps you'll find something that sparks. And than, even if you where just mediocre and spend all your free time and thoughts on it you would still think it was amazing and blessed by being able to do this. Only than can you find the motivation and the drive to actually become world class...

One thing btw, if I where you I wouldn't try to become 'world class' at poker. Its not a very satisfying game, don't get me wrong I think it is amazing and I enjoy every minute I study and learn or play, but at the end of the day if you look back its just a number that slightly increased or dropped. Still for me it feels awesome to know that I completely outplayed some one, that they where lost in the hand and made a mistake as a result, few games can actually give me this rush (not everybody feels this way obviously)...

[bet2win]

Mastery - George Leonard

A lot of people on here have the same problem as you. I get very good at things quickly then get bored as I stopped progressing, it's no big deal.

I'm competitive and that part of me wants to be up there with the best. But at the end of the day poker is boring and I'm satisfied with making a good living out of it.

I don't really want to devote my life to being the best at it, there is just too many other things in life to discover.

Poker is just a strategic card game and if their was no money in it very few people on these boards would be playing it.

Just work hard and be satisfied with what you achieve.

[MusashiStyle]

which IM did u beat? what's your ICC rating?

[AlfilRey]

I find that with almost all mental activities, I can quickly become top 5%. My strongest would be chess (my icc name is same as here actually -- any1 I know post here?). After that, probably poker, if you don´t count any of the bunch of stupid games like sudoku, tetris, random videogames, etc that I also seem to beat pretty much everyone I know at yet suck relative to the top 1%.

I think the reason for this is a combination of aptitute and attitude. It´s not a 99%-1% combination. It shouldn´t be discussed in that way in my opinion. They are both simply essential if you want to be world class, and thus neither one is more important or more relevant than the other.

If you define "world class" as top 1 for every 10 million, then you possess a 1/10,000,000 shot of having the natural talent + possessing the discipline/organisation and ability to work hard enough to maximise your potential.

The things that will decide whether you are good enough to become world class at anything are your genes and your upbringing. You decide neither.

I think that to be world class at anything mental, you need a discipline, a drive, an incredibly fast speed of thought, a complex depth of thought, etc.

This is why you are "above average" at almost everything. Because you possess better mental qualities than the large % the population. However, I think you have a plateau at every activity you may choose to do, and, by the looks of it, your plateau is going to range between top 20% and top 2-3% at whatever you choose to do. To find anything in the future where you can be top 0.000000001%, given the range that you have been at until now is unlikely. In fact, it´s so unlikely that you´d have to lead several million lives to stumble across one where you did find something to be world class at.

p.s. i apologise in advance if this makes no sense, I gotta learn to structure my thoughts better when writing them down!

[bluesboy75]

Everything you said explains me to a tee. I am starting to think that the reason we dont get extremely good at any one thing is perhaps a fear of commiting ourselves completely to becoming great at one thing and spending years trying only to find out that this wasnt the thing you were meant to be great at. However, I think that if you truly love poker then you just stick with it. You dont have to devote your whole life to it but just continue to play. Greatness at anything takes practice. Even if you are a natural at poker, true greatness will only come with years of practice and all this practice will be fun as long as you enjoy the game.I love the game and I hope to be world class at it one day but Im not pinning all my hopes and dreams on it. Im just gonna play, play and play some more and see what happens. As long as you stay interested in improving your game your game will continue to improve. Just diversify your interests. It seems that when you devote all your time to something in order to get really good really fast it becomes a bit boring and repetitive. That may be why you never seem to get really really good at these things.