I want to be a better golfer, cook, project manager, or gardener. Simple descriptions that share openly your desire to improve. You pick what you want to get better at.
The misleading part of these descriptions is that they sound simple To cook is to cook. Golf involves only one thing. Rarely does life’s interests or situations reduce down to such simplicity.
In golf you can get better by putting better or driving better or becoming better at choosing what club you should use depending on distance or location. When wanting to be a better cook, do you want to get better at barbeque, sauces or dessert?
What get’s lost in our romantic descriptions of what we boast of improving, we lose sight of the subtleties around each thing that we aspire to get better at. The more focused and disciplined your approach is to your area of interest, the more subtleties that appear.
For many this is confusing, causing inaction because of not being able to decide what path will yield the greatest improvement.
For others, seeing the subtleties in everything you want to focus on becomes empowering. Subtleties become options. Seeing subtleties gives you the freedom to see what sub-area can provide the greatest leverage.
Seeing subtleties also gives you the opportunity to foresee obstacles and pitfalls. Especially when you are self-aware enough to see that your strengths and talent may align better with one sub-area than another.
It’s not about wasting time. It’s about slowing down enough to understand what there is and where you fit in so that you get a maximum impact in what you decide to pursue.