There’s a quote I stumbled upon recently, that really made me think:
What do you want to be undeniably good at?
It really spoke to me, because I’ve found myself feeling a little disheartened with something that has been sweeping through the world of entrepreneurship in the last few years. The ‘hacking’ trend. Originally the term described people gaining access to computers & programs. But now, it’s often used to talk about shortcuts, tricks & tips that allow you to do something quicker/easier.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for finding innovative solutions to our problems, and thinking outside the box. But I think the problem starts when entrepreneurs try to fast track their way to success.
I hate to say it, but getting really good at something takes TIME. You can’t hack your way to being an expert at something. Sure, learning the latest marketing tricks will help your business, but it won’t actually make you any better at what you do.
It got me thinking about my own education as an entrepreneur.
I didn’t go to university. Well, I guess I did, but only for 8 weeks, and then I decided it wasn’t a good fit for me & left for another adventure.
I look back at that decision now and am pretty stoked with it. Proud, in fact, that at age 18 I was able to tune into my gut instincts and realise that I had made the wrong choice. I remember the 3 years that followed really well. The majority of my friends were off at uni studying and I was finding the balance between working 7 days a week for 6 months every summer (surf coaching, personal training & bartending ) with the freedom & adventure of jumping on a plane every winter with nothing more than a backpack, my surfboards and a pretty small chunk of cash to keep me going.
I guess you could say I got an alternative education in that time.
But there was always one thing that I felt like I had missed out on. It wasn’t the experience of going to college & meeting lots of new people (travelling ticks that box pretty well), and it wasn’t having a fancy certificate or graduation to make my parents proud.
It was the in-depth knowledge that comes from studying something for a prolonged period of time.
As my journey into entrepreneurship progressed, I felt this burning desire to get really really good at something. To put all my energy into learning, exploring & deepening my knowledge. I guess I’m one of those people who learn my ‘doing’. So that’s exactly what I did. With every new twist & turn on my path, there were new lessons to learn.
But in the last 3 years, I’ve made even more of an effort to lean into my education. The only way I could do it was to narrow the focus on what I wanted to learn. To go deep on just a few subjects.
I’ve made a commitment to get really really freaking good at what I do.
So my question to you today is: What are you committed to learning? What do you want to be really really good at?