Is the Hobby Holding You Back From Being Great?

A

amerigoV

Guest

• Apr 23, 2017

• #21

I could be the greatest actuary in the world and most people would say "what's an actuary?" Meh.

Sounds like your coach must have too many hobbies if that is the advice you are getting

 

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DM Howard

Explorer

• Apr 25, 2017

• #22

I don't really think gaming has held me back, and even if I could argue that it has it would probably only be replaced by something else.

 

Dire Bare

Legend

• Apr 25, 2017

• #23

Most folks who are "obsessed" or hyper-focused don't become "great". They just become unhappy normal people. And not, probably most, "great" folks aren't singularly focused, they just work hard and often have favorable circumstances smoothing the path ahead of them. And some of those "great", singularly-focused or obsessed people are "great" and unhappy. Would you be "great" if you didn't spend so much time on tabletop games and other nerdy past-times? Perhaps. But probably not.

 

Ralif Redhammer

Legend

• Apr 25, 2017

• #24

We are all the sum of many things, not just what we are paid to do. One of my favorite quotes comes from Walt Whitman, and applies to so much:

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

tglassy said:

The Ancient Greeks would not have understood our concept of being one thing. He's an accountant, she's a cop, he's an actor, she's an engineer. They would have told you these people, who identify with their profession, and only one profession, were not full people, but only part.

Socrates was a playwright, a mathematician, an architect, an artist, a scholar, a teacher. They never stopped learning and doing. There is so much to life, and everything is connected. The more you do, the better you get at all of it. This thought that a jack of all trades is a master of none is false. Yes, there are those who excel over everyone else by focusing on one thing, but they have missed most of what life is by focusing on one thing.

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S

schnee

First Post

• Apr 27, 2017

• #25

Sounds like career coaching drone pseudo-psychological crap.

Is that person 'great'? No? Ignore them. Talk is cheap.

On your deathbed, will you really say "I wish I spent more time in the office?" Maybe if you're an Oncologist or have some other gig full of meaning. For us regular slobs, with a job that provides equal parts intellectual challenge and drudgery? What's so great about doing more of that?

 

UselessTriviaMan

Explorer

• Apr 27, 2017

• #26

My career is simply the thing I do to pay for all of the other things I enjoy. I'm good at what I do, but I'm not actively seeking to climb the corporate ladder.

 

Argyle King

Legend

• Apr 27, 2017

• #27

No. In fact, I think my hobby of being a tabletop gamer is enhancing my ability to be great.

I regularly brush up on math and basic algebra concepts which are applicable to most professions.

I interact socially with people face-to-face, a skill for which employers are looking; a recent employment research paper I completed indicated that lack of "soft skills" is a primary reason for not hiring someone.

I have experience with speaking in front of a group due to roleplaying.

I have learned problem solving, how to work as part of a team, risk assessment, resource management, and tactical analysis.

All of those things enhance who I am as a person, and the majority of them are applicable to other activities and applicable to many difference careers.

 

L

Libramarian

Adventurer

• Apr 30, 2017

• #28

No way, tabletop gaming is way too demanding (for me at least), to function as an enabler of procrastination. It's not the sort of mindless distraction where you sit down thinking you're going to do some work tonight and then look at the clock later thinking "oh man, instead of catching up with work I ran a game of D&D instead"

I think hobbies that by their nature require some planning and intent and awareness to participate are generally healthy and unlikely to negatively affect your development elsewhere in life. It's the mindless distractions that you have to watch out for, like triple A videogames or scrolling through Facebook or letting Netflix run on autoplay.