Anything I Can Do, You Can Do Better
July 16th, 2007Several years ago, while playing the Here & Now Edition of Monopoly, with the new ridiculous gazillion dollar bills, I grew tired of adding amounts such as $1,500,000 and $30,000 and $200,000 and $75,000 on each and every turn. I quipped that there should be a more true to life edition that uses fake credit cards, and a central electronic “bank†that calculates the amounts of each transaction.
Later this year Hasbro will introduce a new version of the classic Game of Life, which will use a fake Visa branded card and an electronic “bankâ€.
Obviously, Hasbro has planted bugs in my house and are lifting my ideas. If I had pursued this idea three years ago, where would I be today? Like so many of us, I just assumed that if this were a good idea, it would have already been done. It was, and it hadn’t.
And, how many times do we discard ideas – even seemingly good ones – because we know as a fact that someone else is already doing it, and in many cases doing it better?
I play guitar. I play a Gibson guitar. But, I can’t play as well as one of my idols. Should I stop playing?
I am a writer. I write fiction and poetry. But, I can’t write poetry as well as my favorite, or fiction that is in the same realm as my favorite male or female author. Should I stop writing?
This may come as a complete surprise to you, but I also blog. Well, I blog about nothing. Why bother in a time when there are 60,000,000 other blogs? My favorite blogger kicks ass. Why should I bother if I can’t be better than her?
In the past I have painted. I have also been an amateur photographer for years. But I can express myself in neither of those mediums like this hottie, and feel unworthy of even sharing the same pixels on your monitor with her. Maybe I should sell my camera on eBay?
I have a good sense of humor (OK, I realize this is starting to sound like an ad on a personals website), and I find humor in many things, including nothing. Since I can not even compare myself to The Comedic Genius, should I become humorless?
The answer to each and every one of these questions, or course, is “Noâ€.
It has taken me a few decades to understand this, but I have finally accepted that a person doesn’t need to be the best, or the only, to succeed at something. And, in fact, you don’t even need to “succeed†to have fun and enjoy your attempts at doing it.
Except maybe skydiving…
Just do it.
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July 16th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
but I have finally accepted that a person doesn’t need to be the best, or the only, to succeed at something. And, in fact, you don’t even need to “succeed†to have fun and enjoy your attempts at doing it.
i learned that very same thing this year. it must be because we’re old…