Good vs. Great

Being good is overrated.

Okay, hear me out, being good at things really is not hard. Most people can become good at things if they spend some time and try to become better at something. I guarantee you, that if you spend the next month trying to become good at virtually anything in the world you can do it. Being good doesn’t create a ton of value.

Good means you are a bit better than everyone else, but not by much.

Great, on the other hand, is a different ball game. Being great at something creates a ton of value. You could not be good at anything, except for one thing which you are great at and be immensely successful.

So, how can you become great at something?

The thing about becoming great at something is that there is no blueprint, but there are some common denominators. You have to be obsessed and focused on becoming great. People that are great don’t just wake up one day and be great, they spend years honing their skills, and getting better. Becoming great is a decision, typically at the expense of being good at other things.

There are 3 questions that you should ask yourself when you are deciding to work to become great at something.

1. Am I predisposed to being great at this? Ex. I am 5’8”, and no matter how hard I work I will never be able to slam dunk a basketball. I will never be great at that.

2. Is this something that I am willing to commit the time to? Being great requires time and effort. There is a theory that in order to master a skill you have to spend 10,000 hours working on it. 10,000 hours is 3.5 years of working 9-5 pm 7 days per week, 52 weeks per year.

3. Is this a valuable talent that is worth dedicating your life to? This is the most relative of the 3. The world is a big place, and there is a market for everything, however, some talents have less of a market than others. If you dedicate your life to something, make it worthwhile.

The first step of being great is deicing you want to become great.

Good Luck