The Best at It
In the book, The Best at It, by Maulik Pancholy, a grandfather offers meaningful advice to his twelve-year-old grandson, Rahul, who is having difficulty finding his place and fitting in with his peers. He tells Rahul that “if you dedicate yourself to something and become the best at it, then nobody can stop you.” As Rahul struggles to find that special part of himself that he can be the best at, he eventually discovers that part of being the best is about finding and doing something you really love until you get better at it. What’s more, however, is that being the best you that you can be should give you a sense of pride, confidence, and motivation. Once you have that, nobody can stop you from doing anything and everything you put your mind to.
Over the years, I’ve entertained myself with all sorts of hobbies and interests…ice-skating, basketball, singing, hiking, playing the drums and piano, playing chess, learning languages…the list is endless. Although I was better at some of these activities than others, one thing is for sure–I definitely wasn’t the best at any of them. Part of my motivation for wanting to play a lot of sports and instruments was my desire to learn new things, while the other part, perhaps the more prevalent part, was that I simply wanted to fit in and do the things that my friends and peers were doing. Whether as children or adults, most of us have felt that same way at some point in our lives. Although I was fully invested in each hobby and activity at the time, it didn’t take me long to realize that no matter how much I practiced something, if I didn’t enjoy it enough to want to become better at it, then it wasn’t something I’d ever be the best at. Take ice-skating, for example. I realized that just because I had a secret crush on Nancy Kerrigan, it didn’t mean that I had to be exactly like her. No matter how hard I tried, I knew I wasn’t going to land a triple lutz, or actually want to. Balancing myself on the ice and trying to prevent my ankles from turning in each time I took a step was hard enough. When I realized it was someone else’s interest I was pursuing and not my own, I hung up my skates for good.
That’s been the case with a lot of the temporary interests I’ve had. At times, my interest in certain things has been contagious. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I guess I was paying tribute to every friend, crush, and individual that I ever admired by trying to be just like them. In a way, I convinced myself that I was passionate about and interested in the things that they enjoyed because I thought it would make me fit in and would ultimately make people like me more. I couldn’t have been more wrong. While trying so hard to be like everybody else, I didn’t know who I actually was. For so long, I didn’t explore my own interests and hobbies because I never spent the time considering what they actually were. I was too busy worrying about everyone else and what made them happy, that I forgot about myself and what made me happy.
No matter what the activity, I now try to be the kind of person that my younger self would admire. When I explore interests and hobbies these days, I dedicate myself and my time only to things
that I really love and enjoy, such as writing and playing guitar and ukulele. Each time I practice, I get better and that gives me the motivation and confidence to continue.
Being my best self means being the best person I can be and if that’s the one thing I’m the best at, then I’m okay with that. I’m proud to be the best me that I can possibly be–the person that can’t carry a tune, who isn’t strategic enough to be an intimidating chess player, who was too short to be taken seriously on the basketball court, and who couldn’t master much more than a few simple sentences after years of studying Italian.
I’ve learned that part of being the best at being myself is that I’ve always been willing to try new things and admit when I’m not very good at them or simply not interested in pursuing them. Maybe that makes me different from a lot of other people, but I know that being different is what makes me special and certainly what makes life more fun. Do the things that you like to do. The more you do the things you enjoy, the better you’ll get at them. And remember…there will never be a person who is better at being you than you, so strive to be the best version of yourself that you can be and be the absolute best at it.