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I love this post from Starbucker called, It's Like Breathing. In it, Terry tells a story of being hit by the thought of something being as natural as breathing. Check it out, it is a thought provoking post. And read all the great comments, too, as this post clearly got people thinking.
This notion of natural fit is interesting. Or maybe natural fit is not the right term - but harmonious fit. Maybe the fit was not always harmonious, but through exploration and practice, it has become seemingly natural.
Marcus Buckingham defines a strength as something that give you energy and a weakness something that drains you. Notice he does not say that a strength is something that is natural or easy. (Here is a great podcast I did with Marcus Buckingham)
I think that FIT is the key - fit with interests, with passions, and perhaps with some natural talent. But maybe the natural talent is not the key at all.
I think of my writing. I write a lot now. Ten books, three blogs, yada, yada, yada. And each year, my writing improves. I have wanted to write since I was a child. AND I was a lousy writer all through school because I had ADD, and now ADHD. It was HARD for me and did not come naturally. I had to listen to Strunk & White's little book of grammar on CD five times in a row before some of the basics started sticking with me. I consider myself a scholar (meaning lifeling learner) of writing. And yet, I might put it in the category as "like breathing" today.
And then in Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell stressed the role of practice - which certainly rings true for me. Geoff Colvin made a similar case in Talent is Overrated.
There's a spark - there's energy - there's a dedication to practice/learn and then there is fit. Like breathing.
Combining the notions of the strengths revolution, as brought to us by Buckingham and others, what we know about practice from Colvin, Gladwell and others and this notion of "like breathing" seems helpful and interesting to me. What do you think?
