Cherry Picking Self Development Information Is Just a (Timid) Start
Last modified 2 weeks ago.
Back in 2015, I bought a shiny new Italian bicycle. It was a beauty. I had been reading Dr. Robert Glover’s No More Mr. Nice Guy, a book about men’s personal development and finding satisfaction in life.
The book said something like, ‘Treat yourself to that gift (or whatever) that you’ve always wanted.’
Being a young fellow with plenty of spare change, I went and sprung for a bicycle that I really liked. I had cherry picked a few ideas here and there from the book, without appreciating the real value of it and the work involved to make lasting change.
Buying myself a bicycle wasn’t the point. . . I didn’t get it.
Anyway, the bicycle arrived from Europe.
It was nice and shiny. I pieced it together. Got some fun out of riding it here and there. And afterwards, it largely sat in my living room under a bedsheet. It didn’t make me happier. It didn’t revolutionize my life in any way. It was just more stuff. (Having a nagging lower-back injury didn’t help, but still, I could have taken it for a spin more).
I wish I could say I learned my lesson right then and there. I didn’t.
I would have to deal with more frustrations and setbacks in the following years than was necessary. (Dr. Glover says that ‘we can be slow learners and quick forgetters.’) Cherry picking information is OK when we’re just starting to learn. But then I’d stop–or at least, I would pause too long, sorely lacking in the necessary consistency. It was OK to be measured and start slow, but I did not ramp up my efforts enough over a longer time period.
In recent years, I thought I had landed my dream job. I thought I was really on to something professionally. But it didn’t work out. So much more was illuminated–the good, the bad, and everything in between.
Luckily, I had ramped up my efforts in recent years. I still have dreams and aspirations creatively. I never want to give up on those. New insights and awareness arose. I realized even more that there was more to learn, more ways I needed to grow, more ways that I needed to see things differently.
I saw that if I really wanted to realize more of my potential, that there were things that I couldn’t do half way anymore. I was going to have to go all in and make the sincerest, most consistent effort that I could. I’m playing the long game.
I’ll never be done. But it’s nice to be able to learn, grow, and do better next time.
I’m looking forward to what the future has in store. Even this website is a part of that. I’m excited.