I found this short article by Chris Chase to be interesting.
As a former track star (in my mind), Carl Lewis was a big hero of mine. Now it looks like he’s running for Senator. No comment.
Here’s an excerpt of the article, the part that I’d like to stress.
“Carl Lewis is a man of extremes. When he’s good at something, like sprinting or jumping, he’s the best in the world. When he’s not good at something…his awefulness is astonishing.”
I’ve made this point a few times. It’s better to be world class at a limited number of things and horrible at everything else than it is to be decent at everything but not great at anything.
What are you extremely good at? Live and work in such a way that your extreme strengths are so noticeable, so impressive that no one minds your weaknesses.
Being well-rounded sucks.
While you’re at it, you might as well look at the Chase’s whole article. There’s a cool throwback video of Carl Lewis setting a world record. Oh, and one of him singing (one of his aweful failures).