Last week, I took my dad to see Cirque du Soleil's Totem for his 69th birthday. Amidst the spectacle of music, set design, and acrobatics that only Cirque du Soleil can pull off, I kept thinking, "These people are the very best at what they do." I've put in some crazy training in my lifetime, including 20+ years of swim, bike, run, but still I cannot say that I am or ever have been the best at what I do. With each act, I found myself more and more in awe of what it takes to be the best, and the more I pondered, the more removed I found myself from ever being the best..at anything. I'm the guy that took guitar lessons for two months only to not even touch it again for almost a year. I'm also the guy that dedicated 3 months of spinning fire and just when I was getting good, I stopped practicing. Kitesurfing met the same fate, as did surfing, rockclimbing, river kayaking, paddleboarding, mountain biking, cyclocross, and I could go on, with the most recent casualty being mastering the handstand. Next time you whimsically think about being the best of something, ask yourself if you are truly prepared to do everything it takes to be the best. I obviously am too ADD to be able to do what it takes, not even the best show in the world was able to keep my mind from wandering into random thoughts. Speaking of the best, I wish you all the best in the upcoming year.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The Best At What They Do
Last week, I took my dad to see Cirque du Soleil's Totem for his 69th birthday. Amidst the spectacle of music, set design, and acrobatics that only Cirque du Soleil can pull off, I kept thinking, "These people are the very best at what they do." I've put in some crazy training in my lifetime, including 20+ years of swim, bike, run, but still I cannot say that I am or ever have been the best at what I do. With each act, I found myself more and more in awe of what it takes to be the best, and the more I pondered, the more removed I found myself from ever being the best..at anything. I'm the guy that took guitar lessons for two months only to not even touch it again for almost a year. I'm also the guy that dedicated 3 months of spinning fire and just when I was getting good, I stopped practicing. Kitesurfing met the same fate, as did surfing, rockclimbing, river kayaking, paddleboarding, mountain biking, cyclocross, and I could go on, with the most recent casualty being mastering the handstand. Next time you whimsically think about being the best of something, ask yourself if you are truly prepared to do everything it takes to be the best. I obviously am too ADD to be able to do what it takes, not even the best show in the world was able to keep my mind from wandering into random thoughts. Speaking of the best, I wish you all the best in the upcoming year.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Sometimes it isn't in the cards too. We were kind of talking about that this weekend with running. Near us we have a guy who in his prime may have been a 2:20 marathoner, probably 2:30. He got all he could out of his ability. Sometimes you need the right genetics.
Don't feel bad about that post. I don't know about ADD stuff, but I have a feeling how you are is more normal than not normal. We all start a lot of things. I played Playstation College Football for like a month, and just when I was getting good I sold the dang Playstation thing, and moved onto something new. :)
Good Luck this year.
Hey Kiet... This an interesting post, one because I just saw Cirque's Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour in Vegas and two because of course, I'll be alongside some of the best this year and I'm not sure I'm even close.. in fact, I know I'm not. Did you know where they get those people for Cirque? I learned that they go to other countries to their gymnastics team and pick the 6th or 7th person who doesn't make the Olympic team. The reason they choose them is because they are hungry, and they are usually immensely driven because they were just missed for being "the best" for their country, but they usually find their nitche. Pretty interesting. This is a great post because your right, you have to have perspective about what that really takes and I am gaining more of that all the time. I think I'll understand more of that this year, but it's also about enjoying the process and if you're not, you SHOULD stop.. because you have to want to be the best for the right reasons. In my opinion. :) Have a great day and all the best to you as well my friend! Happy New Year!!
Kiet great post - I do have to tell you something that I know about a lot of the people in Cirque (they are retired gymnasts), they love the sport so much and are no longer able to compete at the BEST level and have found a way to make a living out of their talents. Note: this may not apply to ALL of them, but to a lot of them it does. So they are the BEST at what they are showing you/us, but from what they USED to be able to do and at the level that they USED to compete, they are not comparable anymore.
You are amazing at ALL of the different things you do:))) Cheers to a fantastic 2012 a head.
But I think it's AWESOME that you have tried all these things - sometimes that is the best part - not that you become the best at it, but that you are excited and willing to try new things.
um... twins again? look at it this way. we learn so much more from all the things we humble ourselves trying to learn :) life is way better as a dabbler than as that rare person at the top of their game!
Post a Comment