Do What You Like Best

To the best of your ability

In November of last year (2022), I told myself that I would start posting a weekly article. I thought it would be a good way for me to build discipline, and it would be cool to be able to say, "I've written x amount of articles in x amount of weeks." It was a way for me to feel productive, but these last couple days, I've been asking myself, "What am I doing?" mostly because I don't enjoy writing! This same thing has happened to me before, where I commit to doing something to build discipline that I actually don't like doing. I know many people feel this way from time to time. You don't want to work the most; you want to get the most out of the work done. And part of that is doing work you enjoy. In fact, the willingness to endure because you like what you are doing is often an unfair advantage in the workplace. But you can't mistake enjoyment of the process with enjoyment of production. For example, it gives many people great enjoyment to look back on the day and say they had a great workout (production), but if the process is miserable, you will eventually lose sight of the end goal. This could be minimized by making the process more enjoyable (by hiring a trainer, making a schedule, etcetera). but no one gets far gritting their teeth at the process. Do you think Van Gogh had to psych himself into enjoying painting? Or that Einstein did not gravitate towards physics? A general rule for work and building discipline is to do what you like best, to the best of your ability. Don’t try to force yourself to be a writer, artist, or athlete. Discipline yourself in the areas you enjoy most and incorporate other activities to keep you on your toes. Said another way, be(find) who you are and pay minimal attention to what is not essential. If you can do this you will find your north star.

It’s important to know that when you are dropping a task, you should make sure you are not dropping it for superficial reasons like "it demanded too much of me" or "I'm not good enough." You want to make sure you're still getting the most out of yourself. A good way to safeguard against deceiving yourself is to always pick an activity that is harder than the one you quit. Of course, the alternative task should be more in line with the core of your being, so the fact that it is hard is going to be less unsettling to you. And who knows? Maybe the alternate activity isn't for you either. Don't be afraid to quit. In doing so, you move closer to who you actually are by identifying you are not. Continue to shave the excess until you see a one-to-one image of yourself in your work. Don't be afraid to quit, because a bad day for the ego is a good day for the soul.

As I look to end this writing chapter of my life, I have looked back on the last six articles I’ve posted, spanning a total of four months, and realized they've all been building towards this one. All of them, in one way or another, have been aiming at expressing what is in this article. That may be a metaphor for life, but I'll leave that idea for another article (lol). Thank you to anyone who took the time to read anything I've written these last four months; I hope it's helped you in some way. I don't know when I'll come back to posting, but it's been fun. This is Kene Ezeaputa signing off.

In good faith