This is a question I am trying to answer for very many years? Why can’t I be best at something? Just one little thing. There are many theories on how to do it. Some say I need to spend 10,000hrs doing something before I can be an expert. Others say I need to put my heart and soul on the work to get there. I tried both. I have been programming for about 6yrs now. Last two years I have been in a full-time job coding atleast 8hrs per day. I half-way to the 10K hrs mark. Why am I not even half-way decent at it? I play an Indian drum called Mridangam. I actively learned mridangam for around 10yrs. I used to practice half hour each day, plus play countless number of concerts, bhajans etc. If you do the math, I should be just inches close to the 10K hr mark. Why do I still suck?

Reasons

Here are some reasons I found by introspection:

• Moving target: My target keeps moving. I benchmark myself against person A and work to reach their level. After I do, I find person B who is ahead of me in the game. B is not only ahead, but the gap between us would be 10x more than the original gap between me and person A. In other words, I reach out further and farther everytime I hit a target.
• Changing directions: As much as I hate this, the real path to success is not a straight freeway. It has many twists, turns, scary hairpin bends, risky unpaved mountain roads and, most importantly many, it has many forks. Everytime I reach a fork, I say to myself this line from Robert Frosts’s poem “Two roads divered in the woods..and I must take the road not taken”. Due to this approach, my direction changes often, and without a compass to guide, I am lost. Whenever I feel lost, I stop immediately and walk back to safety.
• Distractions: I can be easily convinced into doing something. Someone once convinced me to run a full marathon in literally 6 words - “Why don’t you run a marathon?”. So even if I am stark focused on something, a quick word from someone can make me do the other thing.
• Drag: However aerodynamically smooth an airplane is, there is enormous drag created by the wind. Similarly, no matter how razor sharp my focus is, life creates drag in me. Talking to people, commuting to places, health, need to earn money, inability to help others, racing against time etc are some of them.

Solution

There are three options for me:

1. Take the road already taken: Don’t venture into anything new. Don’t try to be the best. Just be mediocre.
2. Go fearless: March on without any fear. Keep myself focused on only one thing. Make that my heart and soul and live with it. Never let anything change my mind.
3. Hybrid: Try to follow strategy #2 as much as possible. When faced with problems, switch to #1. This will harm none; will do a little good; not get me too far from safety; no free fall.

I want to do #2, life allows me only #1, so I am doing #3.