Last night I caught a John Cleese interview. In the US and UK, he complained, it's common to tell children how talented they are at something and that perhaps it is ok to not do well in something else because talent is the deciding factor. In his experience that's entirely wrong. Kids should be taught perseverance and to recognize that luck is extremely important.
I mostly agree.. some things may come more easily to some people, but work and perseverance can get you a long way down the path. Rather than pure luck I believe the act of paying attention and having the sagacity to notice when the new and interesting appears. Basically serendipity. Cleese found himself in a serendipity generator of sorts when he joined a student comedy group at Cambridge. He immersed in comedy at the right level for learning the trade. Other than having timing he wasn't very good, but he stuck with it. One thing led to another.. successes and failures, but it worked.
He made another point. When he went to Cambridge he started into the sciences as he did well in tests. Very quickly he discovered the other students actually enjoyed physics and chemistry and realized that put him at a distinct disadvantage. He changed his major, but at least he tried and worked hard enough to recognize he didn't enjoy the science path. When you get to a point where major focus is necessary it makes sense to take stock of what you like and take that path if there's a choice. Of course this is at odds with current advice to get a degree in something that you can make a living at. I'm afraid I have trouble with that as general advice.
The serendipity part is critical. My focus was initially far too narrow, but I managed to slowly branch out. Sometimes, like John Cleese, you find yourself in a rich environment. At other times you must concoct your own serendipity. There are a variety of techniques - mine is tithing my time. I devote ten or eleven hours a week to the projects of friends. While it's not perfect, it's been an incredible education.
Finally back to praise and perseverance. I try to encourage others, but am parsimonious with praise. Of course there are times when it's well deserved and it's always a wonderful example of perseverance. In that spirit I'll recognize one of you. Yesterday Sarah was named the best beach volleyball blocker for 2018-2019. Here's a link to a short video compliation posted to Twitter. Amazing Sarah! Now on to Tokyo and a gold for Canada.
An update - today her teammate Melissa Humana-Paredes was named the best female defender in the world and together they are the best women's team in the world.
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