I learned early how to excel at something. I just needed to do it over and over and over again until others have given up and until I know it better than anybody else in the vicinity. The only thing I had to overcome was my tendency to get bored fast.
So I also learned to short-circuit this tendency by switching focus to other things but things that are still related to that something I wanted to excel at. For example, in university, I had to master Lewis structures. After a few dots and dashes, it got a bit boring. So I diverged into finding out who Gilbert Lewis was and where he lived and why he came up with these structures (and who came up with dot diagrams)... well, you get the picture. I went to the library (no Internet in my day) and borrowed books that had nothing to do with my upcoming exams. None of my friends wanted to study with me. But I understood Lewis structures a shade better than my other course-mates. Although I'm not sure my lecturers appreciated my putting the extra info in my exam answers.
When I started working, I applied the same approach to the many challenges thrown at me. Such as helming a debate team. Incidentally, doesn't it just irritate you when a debate maestro can't explain to you (a raw recruit) how to teach others to debate? So I took copious notes during competitions. I ran from one room to another, trying to gather as much info as I could. I assumed that rebuttals or POVs used by a team in one debate would be reused by them in the next debate (and most times, I was right!... the lazy bums..)
I drove my debaters nuts by second and triple and quadruple-guessing them. By playing devil's advocate triple times over. By asking them to prepare 20 rebuttals for imagined points. Most of which didn't get used. BUT.. BUT it made them think and think and think.
Did I get bored? Yes, I did. So I switched focus to finding out what voice modulations worked best for a debater, what approach worked (sharp & witty, warm & friendly, bright & sassy or focused & grim), how to stand at the table and in front of the microphone, how to walk from offstage to onstage... and even the colour of the papers used. Even the angle of the head when delivering a punchline. Then when I got bored (AGAIN) and felt there was no challenge coming from the immediate environment, I started teaching other school teachers how to helm their debate teams. I suspect some teachers thought I was mad. Then debate competitions became interesting again. I don't know what I would have done next if I hadn't had to move on.
Now I use this to tell my students how to pick their life's career. I said CHOOSE something you feel passion for and do anything & everything to do with it over and over and over again. Until one day when you look around, nobody else is still doing it (maybe because they have lost interest or have given up) and voila! you have become the resident expert. Then you can cash in on that. But it's got to be something you have passion for, something you do 24/7 and yet still complain that you need more time for it... otherwise you'd never last the distance.
So I also learned to short-circuit this tendency by switching focus to other things but things that are still related to that something I wanted to excel at. For example, in university, I had to master Lewis structures. After a few dots and dashes, it got a bit boring. So I diverged into finding out who Gilbert Lewis was and where he lived and why he came up with these structures (and who came up with dot diagrams)... well, you get the picture. I went to the library (no Internet in my day) and borrowed books that had nothing to do with my upcoming exams. None of my friends wanted to study with me. But I understood Lewis structures a shade better than my other course-mates. Although I'm not sure my lecturers appreciated my putting the extra info in my exam answers.
When I started working, I applied the same approach to the many challenges thrown at me. Such as helming a debate team. Incidentally, doesn't it just irritate you when a debate maestro can't explain to you (a raw recruit) how to teach others to debate? So I took copious notes during competitions. I ran from one room to another, trying to gather as much info as I could. I assumed that rebuttals or POVs used by a team in one debate would be reused by them in the next debate (and most times, I was right!... the lazy bums..)
I drove my debaters nuts by second and triple and quadruple-guessing them. By playing devil's advocate triple times over. By asking them to prepare 20 rebuttals for imagined points. Most of which didn't get used. BUT.. BUT it made them think and think and think.
Did I get bored? Yes, I did. So I switched focus to finding out what voice modulations worked best for a debater, what approach worked (sharp & witty, warm & friendly, bright & sassy or focused & grim), how to stand at the table and in front of the microphone, how to walk from offstage to onstage... and even the colour of the papers used. Even the angle of the head when delivering a punchline. Then when I got bored (AGAIN) and felt there was no challenge coming from the immediate environment, I started teaching other school teachers how to helm their debate teams. I suspect some teachers thought I was mad. Then debate competitions became interesting again. I don't know what I would have done next if I hadn't had to move on.
Now I use this to tell my students how to pick their life's career. I said CHOOSE something you feel passion for and do anything & everything to do with it over and over and over again. Until one day when you look around, nobody else is still doing it (maybe because they have lost interest or have given up) and voila! you have become the resident expert. Then you can cash in on that. But it's got to be something you have passion for, something you do 24/7 and yet still complain that you need more time for it... otherwise you'd never last the distance.
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