Obsessions, those intense interests that everyone has to hear about! I’ll talk your ear off once I’m fully into an obsession, and you will have no doubt that I’m a total, absolute, unapologetic nerd.
My goal of any obsession is to get good at something. I don’t have to be great, I just want to be good, or above average, in EVERYTHING!!! If the obsession is something that I’ll end up carrying with me for the rest of my life, then I’ll eventually get pretty good in it, if not an expert, but at the beginning, the goal is to just get good at it.
The Start!
Starting an obsession is a whole thing for me. It starts off as someone making a comment, which puts that tiny little nag in the back of my mind. It’s that nag that I keep randomly thinking of, but not really doing anything with.
Then one day, I come across a video, article, or chat with someone who currently does the thing, and it’s on. The research begins!!
The Research!
Step 1: Raise interest levels to obsessive levels
Once the nag has matured into interest, I hit the books (so to speak, I don’t usually read books on my obsessions, although it does happen from time to time)! Google and YouTube are my encyclopedias, Excel and Word (or Sheets and Docs) are my notepads and analysis tools.
I start out by watching all of the videos of the experts (I mean, c’mon! Who gets excited by watching all the fumbles and false starts of newbies?) to get my excitement levels up. We’re talking about the guy doing flips on a surfboard (can you even do that while surfing?) or the dude flying in a wingsuit through arches and down ravines, just barely missing the canyon walls. Exciting stuff! That’s gonna be me one day!
Step 2: The Gear
Oh boy. This is probably one of the most obsessive parts in the beginning stages of an obsession. The gear! I’m a total gear head. I get jazzed about the various tools and equipment associated with various activities. This means looking at what’s needed, what’s wanted, and what’s just plain cool?
There’s always varying layers of tech and tools associated with an activity. Take scuba for example. There are a few things you NEED to do scuba, right? Tank, wetsuit, BCD, flippers, weights, etc. There’s different levels of each of those too! You can pay $30 for an okay set of flippers, or you can spend $200 for some good ones. Gear-based sport/activities are all the same, you can spend a little or a lot. That doesn’t even take into consideration things like a dive computer, or a rebreather, snorkel kit, etc. While scuba is all about the cool spots and things you can see… I’ve never met a diver who wasn’t gonzo about the gear!
Step 3: Figure out how to learn
Next, it’s time to see just how hard this thing is going to be to learn. It’s time to hit YouTube with the specific goal of tips and tricks. This time, I DO want to see the fumbles and false starts. I wanna know exactly how hard this thing is, and how long it’s going to take me to get above average with it.
Depending on the thing, and if I’ve started playing with it yet, I’ll open up Google Docs and start taking notes. It’s all about figuring out the tips and tricks that’ll help me get started. To keep the surfing example going, this is where I’m looking for things like where my weight should be on the board, tips on getting up out of the water, how to speed up or slow down… etc.
A note on notes: I generally don’t take notes outside of bookmarking specific resources. Especially if it’s a physical skill like surfing or using a scythe to mow. I usually learn best by doing something, and the skill is sorta stored in muscle memory more than in my head. Guitar is a perfect example of that. You can’t THINK while you’re playing guitar.
Time to get out and do it!
So this is the part where this blog will generally pick up. I want to get out and DO these things. Grab a scythe and run out and cut some grass. Go diving! Or go down to the rock gym and start climbing.
