From Zero to One.

How much is talent, and how much is the work to get there? Talent talk of future potential but is little more than a step towards fulfilling it. Yes, there are some that are giving various advantages for achieving in one discipline or another but individual potential is not bound by any particular field, it is unique to each person. In that, there is equality even though what is possible to attain may be vastly different.

Talent acquisition

To reach potential takes more than talent, it take a considerable amount of work and no one is born with all the skills they need to utilise themselves fully. It is a continual learning process that starts in the womb and can continue to the grave. Perhaps even beyond, but in life, there need be no end to the process.

But, we do not act as if this is true, we limit ourselves in many ways through our thoughts and preferences. A large part of our experience is limited through the choices we make in how we spend our time and what we spend our time doing. These choices for most of us are as unique as the potential we hold and can provide a wide range of outcomes, some positive, some negative.

For every choice, there is an opportunity cost as each is an investment, conscious or not. Each investment takes capital away from other investment areas and poor investments result in life restrictions whereas good investments lead to expansions. And also like many investments, the goal is long-term expansion even if that means short-term discomfort.

The long and short of it

At Steemit, there are many people looking long-term when it comes to the value of Steem. They plug away and hold what they can in the view that at some point, their investment will grow much higher. They do this even though in the real world, the capital they have now would solve some of their financial distress, make their life a little easier. I am one of these people.

It is like any skill development where the discomfort in the gaining, the learning, the eating noodles and tuna is endured for the chance at a larger future reward, a high paying job, the chance to be a professional athlete or musician, a life of comfort. Some even like this time more than when they find the success as they see value in the hustle itself.

There is no way around it though, skill development must be performed by the person, no one can do it for you. This takes a certain amount of dedication and a willingness to invest resources into the growth. This come with a cost of course as when time is spent learning, the same time cannot be spent doing something else.

The untalented road

I write a lot, it has become something I thoroughly enjoy yet, I am far from talented. For me, this ability that some see as a gift has been a very hard road and required a huge amount of investment. As has taken the range of topics I think and write about. I myself am not highly educated, I am not even much of a reader, I am more observational in my approach to life.

This was not always the case though and even though very interested in these areas, my actions day to day did not support a life where I could come anywhere near to reaching my potential in any area. Well, this is not quite true as when it come to PC first person shooters, I pwned for years and years.

Through university and my early work career I spent the majority of my time taking pleasure in expanding my K/D ratio by crushing that of others. And I was very, very good. In time however, I found that it and become so automatic, so mindless that I was not even enjoying it anymore, it was just filling time in a way that I used to fill time.

I tried to justify it as relaxation, as a way to calm my mind or unwind after a busy day but, when I spent more time gaming than working, what was I unwinding from? I mentally stepped back and took stock of my life and found that I was nowhere close to where I wanted to be and in many ways was struggling to make ends meet.

Facing the mirror

This was not only financial struggle as that is still the case, but it was also a range of emotional and physical issues that I was avoiding to deal with. I was investing my time and energy into gaming because I didn't want to face the reality that was my life. An unskilled, uninteresting, insensitive life that was not even close to who I wanted to be. I didn't even know what I wanted to be. So, I stopped gaming, I started doing.

It was at this point that I felt I lost the mantle of consumer and tried on the cloak of creator and found that, I loved it. It was the first time since childhood that I was free. I was not cured, I was still burdened by debt and largely unskilled but, there was movement. A pathway forward that both covered what I found interesting and gave me the space to grow.

It was also at this point that I stopped working for other people and doing it for the money. Yes, I still had a job in someone else's company but this was no longer done to get a paycheck on the 15th of every month, it was an opportunity to learn and find a way to my own independence. This was not an easy time and took a lot of work. It takes a lot of work still.

Working symbiosis

But, it is a creative experience where the work is for me and what I create is for others. This is my interest area and this is where I have found I am most content and valuable for my world. And the relationship is symbiotic. The more I create, the more I learn and observe and this feeds my perspectives and provides content for my next creation. This means that I am able to provide what I enjoy with an endless supply of fuel as I am far too unintelligent to come close to exhausting all of the interesting things this world has to offer.

My writing ability is nothing to ever envy as I think near everyone has the ability to write, experiment and find their style if that is what they choose. But this is the same with any skill, they are all learnable to some degree but none can be learned without investment into it. Even negative habits require investment.

I can only ever speak from my own experience and since I don't read that much or watch a lot of TV and news, I can't even back up my experience with data. It is nearly all from just observing myself, my environment and how the interactions between work. I hear a phrase, see a picture or take part in a conversation and my mind runs. I no longer stop it.

From a zero to a one

I used to stop my running mind, that is what the gaming did. It brought my focus into the game and I no longer had to consider my own thoughts, I could consume the storyline I was fed instead, act on the programming, be robotic. I could take pleasure in the digital achievements and feel the progress as the kill/death ratio widened in my favour. It brought my focus into the screen and made me feel accomplished, even though my metaphorical house was falling into disrepair due to a lack of investment and care.

So, I let my mind run free, let it explore the light and dark places as it sees fit and then consider it through the words I write, bend and twist it, pull and push and tear them apart to see what the world is made of, see what I am made of.

For me, this is entertaining, this is enjoyable, this is living. I don't expect many to understand this view as for most, like me, we are raised to think that the goal is to live in pleasure, and we look to maximise its volume by minimising our energy spent in the difficult areas. We are taught to look short-term even though life is longer, taught to consume mindlessly and endlessly, even though the moments we have to learn what we are made of are short.

The value in gaming for me was that I played until I had almost nothing left. When there are very limited resources available, one must get creative in how to use them and where to invest them.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]