I
wanted to tell you about my A and B priority theory, but just it didn’t come to
pass and I didn’t want to talk about it around everybody to avoid interruptions
and side-tracking.
Here
‘s what it is in the nutshell.
I
think that destiny is predefined, like you’ve seen in that astrology
prediction, but only to a degree. In
other words a human being has several predefined, but different trajectories and
it’s up to a person, which one he or she would select. For example, I could have stayed in Russia
and my life would go in a different way from what it was when I immigrated to
America, but it would still be my predefined path, not the path of Stalin.
So
a person, especially a man, has its “best”or an “A” path, along which he accomplishes something
significant, like Moses who was able to state his case with the pharaoh or Einstein
developing his Theory of Relativity, etc. Gustave
Flaubert, for example, who, in my view, wasn’t a very talented writer, and
should he have taken a different one of his paths, could have easily remain
nobody, nevertheless struck gold and came up with his immortal novel Madame Bovary.
Certainly,
it is important to know “what is your main talent?” in order to pursue your
plan “A.” Talent reduces the competition,
or rather gives you a head start over people having no talent in the particular
area.
The
problem is – most people don’t know what their main talent or main area is; and
here where they sit, and feel sad and miserable about themselves, thus taking
the lower path of their life.
In
its time Lui Paster (The inventor of pasteurized milk) said that “Discoveries
favor trained minds.” That’s very much true.
The inventor is the person who knows everything that everybody else
know, plus the little new piece that only he or she knows. That piece makes all the difference, but by
itself is worthless. It’s only great as
a part of the set.
In
art things happen in about the same way.
I recall reading this book about famous Spanish painter Francisco
Goya. In one of the chapters, the author
describes how he worked on one of his famous paintings, where he used the
absolutely new approach to painting. The
painting seemed complete, and in according with his vision. He was working on it already for 3 weeks,
much longer than usual, but something was off, something he couldn’t quite put
his finger on. Then something happen in
his life and it clicked – he’s gotten an inspiration. In a flash he saw what needed to be done. It was very little, but infinitely
significant. So he fixed the painting in
a matter of half an hour.
Sure. But he had the painting done already, in
which he put 3 week worth of hard work.
That’s where
I am coming to a plan “B,” which is nothing else, but accumulation of knowledge
and skills. The question is, of course, is what knowledge
to pick? That’s the tough one and each
person answers it differently. I used to
work with one man from India. He said
that he became a programmer because when he was at the age to acquire a
profession that’s where the money was. If you think about it, this makes quite a bit of
sense. If you have parents who provide
for you, then you can allow yourself to think of liking or disliking, your purpose
in the World, philosophy, happiness, contribution, etc, but if are only counting on yourself, you think of
how to survive. I’d imagine when little Leonardo
da Vinci chose his professions he thought to himself, “Hm, the money, nowadays,
are in art. So why don’t I try to go and
become the Verrocchio apprentice.”
Coming back to my Indian co-worker… the question of liking or disliking programming
hasn’t ever been raised. In America to and
a couple of other rich countries people have the luxury to experience doubts,
search yourself, or in general be fondle with their time. But in
most places in the World, poof, you snooze you lose. So, regardless of whether you like crafting
stone axes or not, if better learn how to make them, or else during the next
big hunt a bear will eat you. The Bible explains it a bit differently, but
the essence of the issue, I think, is
the same.
Lucky
for us, we live much later than these sorrow times and live in a blessed place
that allows us to eat joyfully, procrastinate and be philosophical, but even this
eventually comes to an end – one has to do something in order to survive.
So,
since we have to do something, how do we chose what to do? We pick something that is down on our list of
hated things. I, for one thing, hate
doing taxes, real estate contracts, everything that has to do with buildings or
court systems. But a skill that deals
with arts and crafts, applied science, and medicine seems ok. Also although I don’t know how to fix a car,
if I were to study this, I can imagine myself being car mechanic, chef or even
working on land or with animals.
