Tiger Woods made big news a few days ago… for losing a tournament. He’d won several in a row (something he’s done multiple times in his career), and fell a little short one week. And the fact that he lost was the news.
I want you to think about golf for a moment. Think about the physics involved, the ratio of target-size to distance, the impact of unforeseen variables. The wind blows a little differently 60 feet up than it does on the ground. A small patch of grass in the rough is slightly more springy than the patch next to it. The speed of the club, the shape, the spin imparted to the ball…
…well, I’m not going to bore you with the math. But suffice it to say, that when Tiger Woods steps into several consecutive tournaments and beats the entire planet in golf — that’s a level of mastery we may never see again. How does one attain that degree of dominance and precision? You question everything.
Stepping Back
A few years ago (after Tiger had already left the amateur ranks and won every Major available) he fired his golf coach. Sitting on top of the golf world, and with record endorsement dollars, Tiger fired his coach. Said he wanted to work on his swing, and find one that was more sustainable. He’d already cemented his legacy as one of the greatest golfers ever, and that wasn’t enough. He knew there was something greater — another plateau. And maybe he was the only one who could see it.
Pounding Away
Neil Peart is considered one of the greatest drummers of all time. (If you have a friend who is a musician, just ask.) For decades, he’s been in just about every short-list published, if his name isn’t listed first. As the drummer (and lyricist) for Rush, he has nothing left to prove from a musical front.
A few years ago, he ditched his drum kit and started over. He got himself a drumming coach, and re-worked his technique from the ground up. Starting from the grip and working from there, he remade himself as a drummer. (Much to the consternation of millions of air-drummers worldwide, who had copied his technique as faithfully as they could.) He now can seamlessly move from Matched Grip to Traditional Grip as the occasion calls.
Question Everything
Most of us aren’t in the same enviable position. We’re not the best in the world at what we do. But too often, we wrap our identities in the accomplishments and achievements where we do excel, and don’t push ourselves to see something better. It’s easy to be the big fish in the small pond, and for some it’s even easier to be among the larger fish in the larger lake. We like to bask in that we do well. But are we willing to question everything in an attempt to do it better?
The world tells us “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Just because something isn’t broken doesn’t mean it can’t be better.
“To maintain the status quo is to die.” I’ve always been a believer in continuous improvement. Life would be boring for me without it. Those who take it further by adding the risk of possibly giving it all up are truly inspired and courageous.
Ike, your comments are doubly applicable to the situation of the post-communist societies. One of the more pernicious things which poisons the youth culture is the apathy a communist-educated and raised parent will impart onto their progeny and young people, more generally, in this country. “The State will take care of all, they owe it to us for all the crap they put us through — to hell with market economics and policies.” This, despite evidence to the contrary that the country (e.g. Czech Republic) is aligning itself more and more on the Western tip.
I’ve observed how there’s “ostrich-creep” in Prague.
Certain young people are taking increasingly complex jobs and are doing increasingly sophisticated tasks — with advanced degrees, no less — but they aren’t questioning the established order of doing things, and aren’t engaging in entrepreneurial pursuits. It’s a sight to see…the key thing in a society like this — which is just another example of the post-communist conformity — is to just have the sexy job. It doesn’t matter that this job is only paying you a passable wage, and that it’s not tickling your intellectual needs, nor challenging you. The key is to just have the job, because job = responsibility.
I try to encourage a different way of doing things, just by my presence here. I’m not sure I’m entirely successful, but I will continue to try, because that’s where the fun lies, at least for me.
–ADM
Thanks for this post!
Lee Farabaugh found another example of the value of “Question Everything,” with Dyson.
you need to read fargo: rock city by chuck klosterman, if you haven’t already. i’ve read tons of rock criticism, and he is fantastic in this one. . . anyway, in it, among many, many other points he makes, is, rush is really the first christian hard rock band. he spends some time on peart. but it’s just a fantastic book, neil peart aside.
and this column is good. this could – or could not – apply to again any 3 things in the news each week. How about IBM? They broke everything to create OS/2. But that huge gap didn’t work, because the customers wanted backward compatibility. If you’re an individual, be tiger. If you’re a company with an installed base, careful about taking all of your customers on a tiger-like quest and assuming they want to go.