

The Lost Art of Becoming Good at Things - damirkotoric
http://expertenough.com/295/the-lost-art-of-becoming-good-at-things

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akg
One of the best things I've done recently is get rid of my TV and Netflix
account (to avoid streaming on my laptop). I've also got rid of my internet
connection (so I can't mindless browse the net).

When I do need the internet I usually just head down to a local coffee shop to
check emails (usually twice a day), download API docs, etc. Plus I get a nice
break and get to have a nice coffee. You'll be surprised how much you are not
missing out by delaying emails and twitter checks. I've found my productivity
has increased significantly since I'm less distracted with twitter updates,
chat messages, incoming mails, etc. And of course, for emergency internet
connectivity, I always have my iPhone + 3G. The iPhone is great, since it is
perfect for emergency look ups of information but a hindrance enough to not
aimlessly browse the web. I also like that HN doesn't have a nice mobile
compatible style sheet ;-)

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digitalsushi
I got frustrated with the web this weekend. My ability to use it as an expert
has waned. If we can make the assumption that the proportion of self-promotion
increases over time, I believe there is a personal inflection point where the
average new information being consumed is a falsehood. I say personal since
every person has their own threshold for truthfulness.

When I claim to be an expert, I just mean that I used to be pretty good at
finding stuff I wanted to find. Google is the tool I have overused, ignoring
better, newer filters as they have come wayside.

So I feel like just turning the whole damned thing off and learning the "slow"
way might be the new way to be the fast way.

2015, want to find it fast? Flip open the index of a hard cover and start
scanning.

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mbesto
If everyone is failing to become experts in things, it means that the value of
the expert goes up. This is derived from the fact that the value of an expert
is relative to the number of non-experts.

In consulting this is a huge win for experts, since my industry is littered
with people who could largely be considered incompetent. So I don't see this
as being a lost art.

Plus, is expertise considered an art? IMO it's more a science or a craft.

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csomar
Exactly wrong. Imagine there wasn't a good number of experts in
JavaScript/HTML5 (my field of expertise); there wouldn't be HTML5 BoilerPlate,
Modernizer, Respond, Require.js and the handful of books I read. I couldn't
reach the level where I am today.

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mbesto
Sorry, I think you missed my point.

I'm not disagreeing that these type of experts exist. The JS/HTML5 field is
also littered with incompetence as well. I get the feeling that the OP is
trying to say that we culturally don't advocate these type of people anymore
and thus it's a "lost art". I disagree. And for every hundred incompetent
people, there is one writing a new boilerplate or book. My point is that this
one person doesn't exist without the other hundred. It's unfeasible to suggest
that all 100 should be experts and that there was a time when this was true.

...oh God, now we're getting philosophical...

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rudenoise
This is a view that has been voiced periodically during the advance of human
communication. There are certainly downsides just as there are positives. A
nice encapsulation of the topic and it's counterpoint are presented by Paul
Flatters in his BBC Four Thought talk:
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/fourthought> MP3:
[http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/fourthought/fourt...](http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/fourthought/fourthought_20120104-2059b.mp3)

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doktrin
Fair point. I spend far too much time on my laptop in front of the television
pretending that I'm being kinda-sorta constructive just because I happen to be
answering work related emails.

Time is valuable, time to treat it as such.

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janus
Becoming an expert at something is hard. Training requires a lot of mental and
phisycal effort, and not a lot of people are willing to sweat it.

I believe that in order to stay motivated to become an expert, you need to
have a clear goal. Why do you want to go the gym everyday? Why would you spend
hours after office researching and learning about new technology? If you can't
define the why, you will probably fail.

~~~
dos1
Agree with your first sentence. Being an expert takes loads of effort. For
some that effort is work, for others it's fun, but no matter what it takes
time and determination.

What I see more and more of these days is (in the Midwest of the U.S. anyways)
parents are not teaching the value of effort to their children. Their children
end up being lazy and entitled, never knowing what it truly takes to be good
at anything.

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MatthewPhillips
The problem is that consuming is social and doing tends not to be. It's hard
to come home to your family and tell them that TV is bad, instead we should
all go our separate ways and work on personal hobbies/projects. Exercising is
the one thing that is social, but usually not if you want to get to the expert
level.

~~~
kpennell
Doing can be lonely if it's not inherently satisfying for you...

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gforces
It's definitely a lost art: the page is down.

