Intro
Since I was a kid I have always been fascinated with the idea of ability and how things work. No matter what the subject may be if I found interest in it I wanted to learn about it. If it was a skill I wanted to know how was someone able to do it. Who knew that I’ve always been asking myself how to become extraordinary.
As time passed and I got older that feeling never went away and I had the desire deep inside. This led me to explore many aspirations and ventures to eventually develop interesting hobbies. As my interest continued to grow and me wanting to become better in my abilities; this led me to, what I think, was one of the greatest questions today…
What Does It Mean To Be Extraordinary?
As I meditated on this and looked at the word I realized the combination of 2 words.
Extra & Ordinary
What happens when you take the words apart and separate them individually. This thought led me to a new concept. What if that was all that was needed to reach greatness. Doing a little extra more than the ordinary, or average, to reach a point of remarkability.
Could it be that simple?
So What Is The Extraordinary Project?
In its essence the extraordinary project is an attempt for me to answer all the questions and frustrations that I’ve had in my life.
Frankly I’m sick and tired of the idea that I can only be good at one thing if I want to excel and become a master. This idea was very hard for me because there were a lot of things that interested me and I wanted to learn how to do it.
Don’t get me wrong I love the idea of mastery and still believe in it strong today…
However, I don’t want to master everything but just be good enough to my own standards.
Perhaps I needed to look at things differently.
The goal is to learn a new skill based on my interest. As said before, not to be the best but to reach an adequate level where I feel confident. Confident enough to show and tell what and how I did something.
I want to break normal conventions and beliefs that you can’t be good at everything. Which I don’t! I just want to do things I think is fun and interesting to me. I think that looks like creating simple mini projects that I can complete, and when I’m done, I can have that ability for life.
In all honesty, the extraordinary project is a science experiment to answer some of the questions I’ve had in my life. Starting from finding the answers to questions, documenting that process, and sharing my findings.
These projects/experiments can range from learning to draw, how to code, learning UX design, creating an online business, to creating an animation. There is no LIMIT.
Here is an example of some of the questions I’m looking to answer…
- What do I want to do after learning this skill
- How long will it take to learn this skill
- What do I need to know to be confident in my new skill
- How do I keep this skill for life
- What does it mean to be the best if I choose, and who are the best in this field
- What are the core fundamentals of this skill
So as I think about these questions I have to define what this would look like and make a plan.
The Pathway To Extraordinary: How Am I Going To Do This
To start this experiment off I need to create a plan, but I needed an idea of where to begin.
First I plan to write down all the topics that interest me and then write the goal I would like to accomplish with this new found ability and skill. From there I can work backwards.
So for example let’s say I want to learn how to draw heads. Drawing heads would be my overall goal but now I define what exactly I want to do with knowing how to draw the head. For example: “I want to learn to draw the head in order to create different character faces and draw from my imagination.”
From there I would begin to write down questions of what I think I need to reach my goal and the issues I have.
Then I would create a mini course and look up a few videos to research and create a synopsis, or a summary, of what the overlapping ideas and fundamentals others are saying to acquire that skill. Once I find the common denominators I can move to my next task.
I like the idea of the “30 Day Mastery Plan“. I would then try to structure out a plan for the next 30 days how I would achieve my goal. Then I would begin to experiment and practice with the knowledge I found. Remember I’m not trying to be perfect but have a good understanding of the material so that I can produce what my overarching goal is.
However, during my test I need a way to measure and track my progress. This will let me know what I struggle with, how I did it, are there ways to improve, and as a bonus tracking my consistency. In tracking I can record any holes I see and start asking questions to find any solutions.
I would also have to experiment in knowing what to track in order to reach my goal faster because I can track that I practiced daily but every practice session should have a goal to reach in order to reach the ultimate goal. In other words there should be a challenge for growth and record what I learned, any struggles and any ways to improve the next day. I think that will give me the ability to learn faster than before.
During the tracking process this is where I can begin to start creating and solidifying the learning process. Next is figuring out and testing how much I internalized the information. Of course I would have reference materials but I believe if I can explain what I am doing I am 2/3 of the way there.
I remember it being said that if you can teach it you know it. So I am going to test that theory out.
After every few lessons, or at the end of the week, l will try to explain the idea out loud to myself and then see if I can perform the skill from memory.
Ultimately the question to answer here is “How fast can I learn this skill efficiently and confidently”.
So in short the roadmap would look something like this
- Write down all the things I am interested in to learn as a skill
- What do I want to be able to do after I learn this skill
- Research and write the core fundamentals of that skill
- Create a 30 Day Mastery Plan
- Test, experiment, and practice with the new knowledge
- Track and measure my progress to see how I am improving
- Teview daily and weekly any problems and how to solve those mini problems
- Test my ability by explaining the new found knowledge along with using the skill
Why Am I Creating The Extraordinary Project?
I know when we look around we see amazing people displaying incredible works of art and skill it seems impossible to do what they did. But what if we could pull back the curtain and see that what they did is really simple mundane and sometimes hard activities to get there. What if we can learn to just do the little extra work to improve I truly believe we can become extraordinary.
And I’m not saying you have to be like anyone and be the best. I’m asking “What does it mean to be great in my book and how can I show it.” I want to learn and create the roadmap where knowing that I have a choice to be better or not.
To Me That’s Extraordinary.
So I wanted to redefine what it means and study how these people became extraordinary because honestly I can write out a list of why this means so much to me…
- I want to create and do things that don’t SUCK
- I want to feel confident in my abilities
- Prove to myself what is possible and I am capable of creating something in my own way
- I want to fulfill dreams and ideas I’ve have
- I don’t want to feel tied into a box
- I want to prove what is possibly in little time with hyper focus
- I want to know and show that there are other ways, and you can create your own path
- I want to simplify processes so that it makes sense
- I want to learn how things work and do it…period
Conclusion
This project, I feel, gives me the freedom to explore all the things that interest me.
So now I am on a quest to discover just exactly what it takes and share it.
For every project that I embark on I will explore them as if I were a scientist and record my findings of what worked and how I did it. Giving me the ability to create reference guides to share with others who may feel like me.
If you ever felt stuck on what you should do with your life, what skill you should develop, how to become an expert in something, or can’t decide on what’s the one thing you should do.
I want to explore a new frontier and create my own not being defined by one set of specific rules but finding peace within my soul knowing I am capable to do what I want.
I want to do things I enjoy and I want to do it at a level I deem as good and high quality.