Whatever qualities I possess—whether they be “strengths” or “weaknesses”—I strive to hone into TOOLS.  Personally, it seems that the best approach is to employ whatever methods works in a given context (while maintaining ethical standards).  What doesn’t seem to work is fruitlessly scrabbling to uphold some high-handed ideal.

Recklessness is ineffective, but I believe one must be willing to skate right up to the edge of it in order to avoid the regret of lost opportunities—the opportunities that die from a lack of audacity.

In the realm of personal achievement, an adverse environment is not something to blame.  It is something to outwit and conquer, or at the very least, learn something valuable from.

Like everyone else, I like feeling good about my image but that’s a fickle thing; perhaps I screw up, or someone effectively ridicules me, or I don’t perform to my own expectations.  So rather than self-image, I prefer self-respect.  Regardless of how I see myself, I want to trust in my ability to conquer adversity and solve problems.  This requires constant effort—constant training.  I have to keep producing evidence that I’m being proactive, that I’m thinking clearly, and that I’m not falling prey to fatuous comforts or narrow-minded ideals.

I firmly believe that competence beats [doctrine/tradition/etiquette/theory].  So rather than retreat into the safety of dogma, I’d rather aggress into murky arenas that test my beliefs, and realign them with the evidence I see.

Throughout eras and cultures, accomplishment seems to be a relative thing (simply being literate would have been fairly amazing a few millennia ago), and as we are all subject to the creep of entropy, my theory is that the best strategy is to push myself at the fastest, hardest pace that I can prudently sustain over the course of my life.  

But what is “prudent?”  That’s different for everyone, right?  This relativism inclines me to believe that brutal honesty with myself is absolutely essential, for standards appear to change from person to person.  I need to be able to assess my strengths and weaknesses without flinching, otherwise I won’t hit my targets in the most efficient manner, and if I waste energy, then I’ve shrunk my overall potential.

Here’s what works for me:  think of every activity like a game or a puzzle, enjoy applying myself at them, and then apply myself every single day.  So not only do I experience short-term fun from progressing through games, but I also experience long-term fulfillment from eventually finishing some of them.  

I haven’t found any other way that’s better than that.

The ability (and willingness) to see nuance is essential.  It allows us to dive into a subject and glean useful information from it while avoiding its pitfalls.  Time and practical considerations will force us to generalize, but being able to see past gross, emotionally charged assessments allows for someone to pull ahead of the herd.  As the masses wallow in the comfort of demonization/idealization, the astute individual is able to go deeper into the unknown, for their perception has become a rarefied compass which others are unwilling to develop.

The greatest lever we have is strategically employed creativity.  Creativity allows for leaps of methodology that reduce effort and overcome obstacles.  But in order to be effective, creativity must be buttressed with the basics:  meticulousness, discipline, and willingness to account for data and evidence, no matter how contrary or strange it may appear.