No Coasting

I was going through my morning routine today when it struck me that there's a parallel between the Talent vs. Skill idea I wrote up a while back and how I approached grooming and hygiene for the longest time.  I figured if I needed to work at it then it wasn't real, so I took poor care of myself in terms of health (and fitness) as well as grooming and hygiene.

I've made a big shift recently to realize that you are what you work to become, and what you're born with is only the raw materials you have available, not the predetermine end result.

I spent a lot of time with a close friend while I was in Colorado, and one of the things that I'm so impressed about with her is what she's made of herself, how hard she's worked at it, and the incredible results.

Similarly, when I look at what my wife has consciously worked on for the last few years to become, and the progress she's made, I'm blown away.

I'm much earlier along, still trying to determine what I want to make of myself, but a big change is that I'm consciously doing so, and not coasting anymore.

This is a reason why I think consulting is a great fit for me in general, and in particular right now.  I can't coast, I need to impress my clients every day.  At a big company, it is far too easy to coast.

Time to redouble my efforts about consciously working to make myself better at what I do for a living, which is happily one of the things I love to do.  No coasting.

Comments

[Marcos]

The beauty of that is that you can do it step at a time. And the more you blow through and stack behind you, the more momentum you have to continue moving forward.