Greatness

I admit it. I'm lazy.
I must be. My parents, you see, always told me I was filled with potential. I could do anything I wanted, I was told, over and over again. The standardized tests all proved it; I was genius material.

The fact that I didn't get straight A's, therefore, had to be simply because I was too lazy to do so. The fact that I've reached the age of 37 without actually getting the Nobel Prize or even more than a Bachelor's degree (in dance, no less) makes it even more obvious: I'm just lazy.

OK, it's a bit of a joke. But only a bit. I know that I'm a workaholic; but I believe that I'm lazy, due to conditioning.

At the same time, this article gives me hope. It implies that I could still pick anything--stunt flying, chess, pastry making--and start now from scratch, and by age 47 I could be great. Not good; great. And how?

it's all about how you do what you're already doing - you create the practice in your work, which requires a few critical changes. The first is going at any task with a new goal: Instead of merely trying to get it done, you aim to get better at it.

Simple. Just aim at getting a little better. All the time.

For me, it's writing, right now. That's what I want to be great at, which is why I have four blogs and one writing group and two unedited novels. Because someday I'm going to be a great writer. Michener didn't get published until age 40.

I've got three years.