On being excellent

I learn new things fast (except perhaps snowboarding), then plateau as soon as I’ve achieved a base level of competence. I stop trying. I stop improving. I believe myself to be an expert as soon as I’m not a beginner. This was true in schooling, guitar, programming, social interaction, learning youths names, drawing, even my relationship with God. I start out rapidly, then everyone else catches up and surpasses me while I continue believing I’m better than them at x.

How do I fix this? I need to continually approach things as a beginner. Continually try things too hard for me. And not get discouraged or frustrated when I don’t improve as rapidly as I once did. (the gap between complete novice and base competency is far greater than any further improvement - I need to get past that 0 → 1 is infinitely greater than 1 → 2).

I also need to record where I’ve come from and where I’m going so I can see progression – even when it’s slower than I’d like.

In other news, so far my blog is incredibly selfish. I hope it won’t remain this way.