Playing to your strengths

"Wow! Your Japanese is so good!"

I get that a lot. Especially when you consider I didn't know a peep of it before I set foot on this island 2 years ago. And even moreso when you think about my not studying for the past 18 months.

But, obviously, it could be better. Miles better.

As long as I've known myself, I've had this problem. Call it what you will: lack of commitment, being fickle, eternal boredom- in the end only one thing matters. The fact that I can't seem to stay on track with anything. People, places, things, they all lose their shine and get relegated out of the spotlight. Although the really important ones are recycled at some point.

I know this is my problem. But the problem isn't idenifying the weaknesses. It's counteracting them. Even when people see what's wrong, we wallow in it. We wade out into the pool of "If only I was more [insert adjective here]" and just sit there soaking it up.

But there's always a flip side.

Maybe your thighs are too flabby - but your stomach is flat
Or you laugh too loudly - but you always make everyone smile
You might be bad at Physics - but you can play the pants off Beethoven (although I'm not sure I'd want to. Ew!)

And sometimes, these strengths are just the band-aids we need to cover over our weaknesses.

I don't stay put.

But what I am good at, is getting completely engulfed in whatever I'm interested in. I can be up to my neck in something for months at a time. And during that time, I can eat and sleep and breathe it. It's on my mind all the time and I'm rather obsessesive.

I've tried to balance it out, but that doesn't work.

And now I wonder why I have to.

If the objective is to do 6 months work, why do I have to do a month of work every month? What's wrong with doing all the work in 4 months and taking 2 months off?

Nothing.

So that's my new mission. I'm making my life into school terms (trimesters). And during these terms, I'm going all out. On my Japanese study. On my fitness. On my writing.

And then I'm going on vacation.

Maybe it's not the best system. But it seems like it just might work. And using a system that works, has got to be miles better than using one that doesn't.

What are your crippling weaknesses? What strengths do you have that you don't play up?