Journeyman of Joy

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I’m really good at a few things: speaking, coaching, being a dad, learning, recalling useless trivial facts about damn near everything. Not enough to be considered a polymath, but enough to be well-rounded.

And I’m decent at a few more things: writing, being a friend, creating systems, time/energy management, observing.

And I suck at a fairly high number of things — essentially anything involving athletic ability, finances, math, making small talk.

A while back, I stopped working on my weaknesses. It is a waste of energy and a largely ego-fueled folly. Instead, I outsourced my weaknesses — or created systems that made them less of a blindspot. This freed up energy to work on my strengths. And in applying the work-on-your-strengths philosophy, I did improve. I became a better coach, a better speaker, a better writer, a better human.

There is a certain amount of bliss in doing things that we have high joy and high skill in. I love speaking, coaching, conversing. But staying in high joy/high skill can cause stagnation. The growth has to come from somewhere.

Some of it comes from having more discipline about low joy/high skill tasks. For me, that’s a writing practice, business operations, nutrition. In doing these low joy/high skill tasks, I do grow … but only a little. I mostly get tired.