Go Deep

Go deep.  Don’t dabble.  It’s not about whether you know how to do something.  It’s about how good you can become at doing it.  Anyone can paint.  Picasso has distinctions about painting because he has invested so much of his time and effort into his craft.  That’s where you can separate yourself from the pack.  When you invest more and more time and effort in something you start to see the patterns that nobody else can.  

As a society we don’t value craftsmanship as much as we value attention from others.  In today’s world it is easy to look like a pro because of technology.  Especially if you are good at marketing.  But oftentimes there’s not much else there when you look behind the curtain.  I don’t think you want to be that person.  My guess is that you want to be the person who is so good at what you do that it looks like genius to others.  You are so good at what you do it looks like magic.  The way you get to that level is consistent effort over time.  There’s no way around it.  People are looking for shortcuts.  I was one of those people.  Work smart – duh.  Work hard – always.  If you don’t like the word ‘work’ substitute it for something else.  I like the word ‘effort.’  You could call it ‘play.’  If you look up the physics definition for the word ‘work’ in Wikipedia it says, “The process of energy transfer to the motion of an object via application of force.”  Everything in life requires work.  Getting out of bed.  Breathing.  Eating.  Making love.  The way we think about work and the meaning we give it is what gets in our way sometimes.  

The way to get that level is also by cutting out a lot of the unnecessary actions.  Stop trying to build three businesses.  Master one first.  Stop trying to learn five basketball moves.  Learn to dribble at the highest level first.  People try to do multiple things at a time for many reasons.  They do it out of fear that they won’t be successful at the one thing.  They do it because they want to keep up with everybody else constantly trying the latest and greatest trend.  They do it because they want variety and excitement.  They do it because it looks like other successful people are doing multiple things.  When you go deep on one thing you start to see there is a universe of things to do within that one thing.  You will have more than enough things to do.  You will have a much higher probability of greatness in your craft.  You will find an entire new level of variety that people who dabble will never experience.  Go deep.  That’s where the treasure you seek is.  

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