I am quite a fan of Cal Newport's Blog and 30sleeps. These two blogs in particular, along with some other readings, have made me realize a lot of stuff about myself that I would have otherwise ignored. During these past few days I have been reading in Cal's blog Study Hacks about what makes someone great at the things they do. In some of his posts he discusses techniques such as deliberate practice and complete focus, but one post in particular, in which he talks about finding the "right" major (you can read more about it here), has caught my attention. In it Cal talks about the problem that many students face as their major gets progressively harder.
As years in college pass and courses increase in difficulty students often take this as a sign that they don't like their major as much as they should. As a result, many end up switching to easier majors and follow their instinctive nature to seek pleasure. For you see, it is in our nature to avoid suffering and pursue what we enjoy, this is why we often enjoy things we are naturally good at. But I ask myself, how do we determine whether we truly dislike something or if we are simply falling for our instinctive nature? How do we realize when our emotions are getting the best of us?
These days I have become more interested in becoming fully aware of myself and my emotions. Although I have not always succeeded, I have been trying to realize why I feel the way I sometimes do and why I let emotions cloud my judgement. It is this way that I have recognized, like any other person, that I too often feel like I don't like things simply because I am not good at them. I become easily frustrated with not knowing something and hence become a prisoner of my own comfort zone. I avoid learning new things for fear that I might not know or might fail. I too avoid suffering and seek pleasure. But how can I become great if I avoid the very things that will make me great?
I strongly believe that becoming aware of these emotions are crucial at becoming great. Recognizing when our emotions simply cripple our drive. Becoming aware of when we feel like we don't like something just because it is hard rather than because we truly dislike it. It is definitely a tough mission but one that I believe is reachable. I think it begins with taking small steps towards getting out of our comfort zone, trying something new and unknown and eventually accepting failure. Becoming aware that learning is hard but far more rewarding than avoiding its pain. So for now I have it made it my goal for the next time I dislike something to stop and think for a second, do I truly not enjoy this or am I simply avoiding it?
