My first work-like commitment started when I was 16. I call it that because it wasn’t paid and I wasn’t obligated to do it. I just felt like doing it. It was not work. It was fun.
A decade later, I am still doing the same thing, and I have made some money out of it. It’s not as much as I want to. But, I don’t even try. I make a few hundred dollars with zero effort.
I don’t like to do it anymore. It’s not fun anymore. It’s work.
People assume that I know what I am doing. Some seek my advice or assistance because they believe I am really good at what I do even though I am constantly learning new things and feel I know very little. I question myself. I am clueless.
But, I have some idea of what works and what doesn’t. That’s all.
Why is that?
It takes a lot of patience to eventually command a lot of perseverance. See how I say that? It takes time to learn how to use time. It takes patience to become patient.
But, there is no deliberate thought to it. I didn’t spend my time learning to be patient. It’s just something I learned while doing something else.
I often feel I don’t have enough patience.
Yet, I have been doing the same sort of work for the past decade, and continue to learn new things about it, without really thinking about it.
That’s the funny thing about it.
Perhaps, to someone else, that will look like perseverance. Or, patience. But, to me, it’s neither. I just did what I wanted to, exactly how much I wanted to. I didn’t give it more hours than I wanted, nor less.
I never questioned why I do what I do. I just did it because for the longest time I felt it was fun. I didn’t think about patience, or consistency, or learning, or any other emotion or big fancy words. I just did stuff.
What prompted me to write this post today was this article by James Clear.
I don’t think Mozart, Picasso, or Kobe, or anyone who’s done anything worthwhile, ever thought of doing anything worthwhile. They just did things.
Krishna, in the Hindu story of Mahabharat, asks Arjun to not think of the consequences and fruitfulness of his commitments and actions. Krishna asks Arjun to simply do.
According to the research mentioned in that article, it takes 10 years to become good at what you do. I have had my 10 years. I don’t feel I am good, and I don’t want to be good anymore. Where does that leave me?
What if, instead of zero effort, I put in 10%? Will I start enjoying it again? Or, will it just be more work?