Give Yourself Options

Welcome to Issue 80 of Yath’s Blogletter, a newsletter where we explore mindful self-growth. I hope you’re having an awesome day!

Hi friends,

Recently I've noticed something about 'successful' people. They broadly fall into one of two categories. They are either insanely good at one thing or they started off pretty good at a few things and experienced a breakthrough moment in one of those things. I think the second kind is more obtainable and interesting. For example, as a child, Rafael Nadal was equally talented in both football and tennis, when eventually at the age of twelve he decided to pursue just tennis. He was able to make this decision because he initially pursued multiple talents.

This form of success comes from planting multiple seeds. Imagine planting only one seed and watering it regularly with your best efforts only to find out sometime later the soil was contaminated and there was no chance in hell that the seed you planted would ever grow into a beautiful plant. Sad times. But now imagine you planted multiple seeds in different places and different climates. You stand a higher chance of at least one seed blossoming into something magical.

This is why I try to do more than just medicine (when I can). Becoming an insanely good doctor is pretty tough but becoming a pretty good doctor who can also do X, Y and Z at a pretty good level is reasonably attainable. Furthermore, doing a few extra things on top of your main 'thing' puts you in a unique position within your niche. For example, you don't get many doctors who can also design apps from scratch or code beautiful websites.

During my time off from creating content, I've had an opportunity to think about my X, Y and Z. It used to be a combination of designing, creating YouTube videos for my personal channel, and writing this newsletter. But, upon reflection, there are also a few other things that I reckon I'd be pretty good at if I worked on it such as entrepreneurship or teaching others. Combining some of these interests may either allow me to find my breakthrough moment or allow me to create a niche for myself where I am the only person who can do my combination of 'things' at a decent level.

By the way, success can mean different things for different people. For me, it means having the financial and time freedom to explore life at my own pace, spend a lot of time with family/friends, and have time daily to work on my health and fitness.

So, the idea I'm proposing this week is to diversify your potential by leveraging your skills and abilities into as many activities you think you might have a reasonable chance of being pretty good.

Stay safe, stay happy!

Yath