One of the things I’ve been pondering about this here blog is the difficulty of covering things in any amount of detail. Everyone needs different things, the very format is for relatively short (okay, relatively short for me), and people read quickly. All of this is true. And yet I’ve been itching to dig deeply into things with you all, to see where it gets us.
So I’ve decided to designate August as “What’s My Thing?” month. While I’m not going to promise full coverage (because I’m pretty sure that’s not possible), I’d like to do some sustained thinking about how we uncover our callings, those things that we’re passionate about, that we’re talented at, and which offer something important to the world.
This is also a topic that (at least in theory) is useful whether you’re staying in academia, leaving, or have already left. It’s useful if you’re a graduate student, if you’re early in your career, or if you’ve been doing this awhile. In other words, no one gets left out of this experiment!
Let’s do this thing!
I don’t know if Cal Newport’s Study Hacks posts would provide a counterpoint or support for your ruminations, but here’s a link to a recent post that links to other of his writings. The first 5 links he lists pretty much outlines his philosophy, which I think is that finding your thing is about becoming very good at something. I’m not sure he addresses how to find that thing, beyond underscheduling yourself and just trying things out.
I liked this profile he did of a star grad student: http://calnewport.com/blog/2010/03/15/how-to-become-a-star-grad-student-james-mclurkin-and-the-power-of-stretch-churn/.
I wonder about whether I’m waiting to be caught by a thing, or whether I need to catch lots of things and sift before finding the thing I really like.
Dang it, here’s the post with all the links: http://calnewport.com/blog/2010/07/28/from-ceos-to-opera-singers-welcome-tim-ferriss-readers/
Thanks Mike! I’ll add this to the list of things I’m reading and responding to.