Think of things you are good at. It can be whatever: sports, games, talents, areas of expertise, writing better columns than The Cavalier Daily staff or anything else you can name. Now ask yourself how many of these things can be described as important, useful, school- or career-related or more practical than being able to touch your nose with your tongue. If you're like me, the answer is not many.
You see, it just so happens that most of the things I find interesting and challenging are of no apparent value. I know I'm not alone -- many people have an interest and flair for things that don't pertain to anything useful. Like those people who can spin basketballs on their fingers all day long, recite entire movies by heart, kick your butt in Mario Kart or major in history or religion.
All of them have independently found an activity to practice and enjoy.
It is discouragingly uncommon, however, for the things we like to do and the things we have to do to overlap. Very few people solve second order differential equations in their free time or write 3,000 word papers to relax. Accordingly, even fewer people get paid to play Ultimate Frisbee or can take a class in school about playing Halo.
Even this grim realization does not stop people from diverting time from things they should be working on to things they want to work on. Take me, for example. A few weeks ago, I asked a friend to help me work on my Super Smash Bros. skills. As if merely playing with my friends for hours every week was not enough, I actually asked someone to be my practice dummy so I could work on the timing of some of my moves with Samus. Later that week, I cursed the powers that be for only having 24 hours in a day as I crammed ineffectually for a midterm at the last minute.
Smash Bros. isn't the only thing into which I invest my time. There is also practicing DDR, studying the stock market, reading about poker, familiarizing myself with computer technology, collecting NES games and more. I'm not the only one who has all of these distractions. I see similar situations happening all the time. Many people have hobbies -- a.k.a. wastes of time -- of their own, hobbies they'd probably much rather do than their work. But why are we so driven to pursue these activities?
There are two kinds of motivation: external and internal. External motivation is where incentives for doing something come indirectly from explicit rewards. Examples of this would be studying for a test only to improve your GPA or holding a part time job strictly for the spare cash. Internal motivation, on the other hand, is where incentives come from within oneself and any rewards are intrinsic to the act itself. Examples of this might be reading literature for one's own personal interest or pursuing a sport like racquetball for recreation. Internal motivation is the stronger of the two. It taps into our creativity and our innate drive, that which makes us tick. Everyone has his own interests and his own passions. That is what makes us unique. Activities that are truly essential to us are those that make us happy, healthy and well-rounded.
If everyone could make a living doing what they love best, the world would, in many ways, be perfect. Some lucky individuals have attained this to some extent, but most managed to do it with more than just luck. They followed their hearts and found something they enjoyed that they could apply practically. While nobody can get by doing only the things they like to do, what people truly excel at are their passions.
I hope this column has helped give you some perspective on life. Although everyone still has responsibilities, don't let them cause you to forget the things you enjoy doing, either. They might turn out to be more useful to you than you think. Just don't spend too much time trying to make Super Smash Bros. your life's calling. I've been there, and it didn't work out too well.
Daniel's column runs biweekly on Wednesdays. He can be reached at mcnally@cavalierdaily;.com.
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