I am a task master (my mom came up with the name), meaning I have the capability to learn how to do basically anything I want to and be pretty good at it. I always thought that was such a cool gift. But, I’m also quite an ambitious person, and I tend to run blindly into my “great ideas”. I usually think things through, so my ideas are actually mostly good ones. Just, maybe not for me.
A little a year and a half ago I decided to make a social site for my youth group. I thought it was going to fix everyone’s problems, and it would make everything easier for everyone. Well, that was only partly true. I put hours, and hours, and hours of time into that social site. It was increadibly draining (both emotionally and mentally), and after a couple months I really started to hate doing it.
I could do it, and I could do it well, but that doesn’t mean I should keep doing it.
A week or so ago I decided to take a break from it. I haven’t touched it, I haven’t had any meetings, I haven’t made any little adjustments here and there. And, most importantly, I haven’t felt like I had to do anything on it. It’s Saturday. I woke up, and I thought, “Do I have anything I need to do today? Nope. Video games it is!” I haven’t done that in a really long time because I felt obligated to make this thing that no one actually asked me to make.
This is my senior year in high school, and I really want to make sure I don’t lose it. I want to have fun. I want to learn how to do what I’m good at, and what I enjoy doing.
But, I did learn some interesting things from my stint as a web developer. I learned how to make a social site, and what one may need to do so. I learned a lot about how to improve my own blog. And, I even improved my skills as a public speaker (which I actually want to do more of). I learned a lot more than I thought I would, and (don’t tell my mom I’m saying this) I didn’t waste all that work like I thought I did.
I wanna bring this back around because I think it’s really important. Just because you can do something, and you might do it well, does not mean you should keep doing it.