Education Vault: Jun 10, 2009

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Theoretically, the whole point of engaging in higher education is to move (at whatever time frame suits you) from childhood to career-having adulthood. My own personal—and impossibly dreamy–life path would involve never completing the education portion and really just avoiding the career part altogether. (Stupid money-necessitating reality. Why won’t anyone pay me to be a perpetual college student?) This is all by way of explaining that it’s because education and career are usually linked that I sometimes ditch higher education topics and stray over to the career side of the yard.

Dyske Suematsu wrote this essay pondering exactly what I’ve been mulling over in my noggin for years: Why is it that some obviously talented individuals can’t seem to succeed to the degree in which anyone who has seen evidence of their talent, thinks that they should? I had always theorized (as had Mr. Suematsu, as it turns out) that those less-than-successful types either weren’t able to pull themselves together and go out and seek their fortunes, or that they could just never find that one career niche that fit their talent and allowed them to blossom (as it were).

So what about the people who do kick ass on the career world? Are they more stupendous in their talent? What is it that separates them from the talented folks who don’t, erm, blast off into the clouds or whatever? Dyske Suematsu has a profound nugget of an explanation that makes a huge amount of sense to me. I’m simplifying, but basically his theory is this: Talented individuals are of two types, the ones who excel at Everything Else, and the ones who fear Everything Else.

‘Everything Else’ being all the other crap one has to put up with depending upon which career an individual has found themselves swimming in, i.e., a musician can’t play in a vacuum and become successful; he has to work all other aspects of a career in music (and work them really well) in order to get gigs, get paid, promote himself and his music, get a record deal, interview with the press, deal with masses of life-sucking people, etc. If he’s no good at Everything Else, or if he fears Everything Else, then his chances of success in his area of talent dwindle hugely.

So, to be blunt (that’s my special skill) we’ve all got some bit that we’re really damn good at. The trick to achieving success and happiness is to figure out your talent/special skill, find a career that utilizes it, and figure out a way to kick Everything Else’s ass. Alternatively, if you’re just not someone who is ever going to conquer your fear of Everything Else, then either accept the possibility that there will probably not be any super-freaky success in your future, or find the version of your talent-utilizing career that involves less of the Everything Else, like being a studio musician instead of a rock star.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source)