This is an extension off of my last blog entry (which I would hardly call an entry at all)
I’m a firm believer in the idea that the key to happiness is balance. All parts of your life must be balanced in order for you to feel at peace. I’ve mentioned in a past entry that it is imperative to have everything in moderation; I was referring to food when I wrote that though, but either way, it can be said for all things in life.
Anyways, in terms of balance, I’d say that I do a decent job at keeping the various parts of my life in check. I recognize when I am feeling too overwhelmed with one particular thing, therefore I take my mind off of it and focus on something else- or just take a break.
The thing that I often wonder though is this:
In order to be extraordinary at one particular skill, job, sport, etc, don’t you have to somewhat throw balance out of the window?
I’m sure that Steve Jobs didn’t keep balance in mind when he was striving to build the powerhouse brand that we have come to know as Apple. I’d probably know the certainty of this statement if I had actually read his biography, but from what I hear, he was a bit of a nutcase (in a good way though)
I think and write a lot about sacrifice. Pardon me if I often repeat myself and sound like a broken record in my entries, by the way.
Sacrifice is necessary to achieve greatness. A great novelist spends hours among hours of his day on perfecting his words, the structure of his sentences, the flow of his stories. Even then so, it’s never perfect until it’s perfect.
This leads me to my next point:
Mediocrity.
That word. That taunting word. It just screams, “Hey, you’re not that good!”
It’s something I fear, something I’ve always feared ever being or becoming because really, who wants to be average?
Would it sound horrible if I said, I do?
Now, don’t get me wrong here. I don’t necessarily want to be average or “mediocre”
I’m just very content and confident in the person that I am right now along with the things that I have accomplished. Of course, I’m not done living. I still have yet to accomplish many more things that I want to do in my life, but I know that it will happen over time.
I started this blog to become more serious about writing and it has honestly helped. I get very excited at the ability to publish my thoughts whenever they come to me. I know that I can just do that with my notebook, but I care about feedback and I hope that people genuinely enjoy reading what I have to contribute to the world.
Here’s where it ties together:
I’d say that I’m an intelligent individual. I have a strong set of skills, I’m motivated, hard-working, and I strive to succeed.
I don’t concentrate on just one thing though. I allocate my time accordingly so that I can spend time on multiple things
I dedicate some time to running, some time to writing, some time to my friends, and the rest of the 40+ hours goes to my actual job, which in turn, contributes to the future of my career.
Ultimately, my point is this:
Is it really a bad thing to be just good at something.
It’s an anomaly really- the things I want.
I want to be a great writer. I want to be a great runner. I want to be a great something.
In order to do this though, I have to throw balance out of the window and kind of put all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. But where do I find the time?
To sum up this post (because I have to tie this to my title, for my own peace of mind), the definition of a “Renaissance Man”, according to Merriam-Webster is this:
Lindsey Lazarte 