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Excellence and Competence

There is an intriguing dilemma in striving for excellence. Often we don't know what we are truly great at unless we try it, but even then it takes thousands of hours to be excellent in a field.

There is thus a downside in focusing all your attention on a single topic or field. You can get trapped in a vocation you are good at but can never become great at. We need to develop a search algorithm for our career and intellectual life. Paths not taken, etc. etc.

My solution is to choose a core area and focus of excellence. At the same time, we need to find two or three areas we can achieve competence. Trying to be good enough gives you an opportunity to find your groove. Hard work alone is not sufficient. Once you find the area where you achieve the most for your efforts, competence will lead to excellence, just by the virtue of compounding of knowledge over your lifetime.

In a way this is not so different from diversifying your financial portfolio or appreciating the importance of slack in an endeavor.

Excellence gives our life meaning, helps us strive for autonomy, mastery, and purpose. It's a worthwhile goal to pursue. After all, we only have a billion or so heartbeats left to achieve it.

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