My tendency to develop a deep interest in things

Wicked223

...which I promptly forget about as soon as I develop them.

it's happened with computer programming, bass playing (i feel especially bad about this one, since it cost my grandmother a great deal of money), exercise, anime, and pretty much anything I've ever been interested in, with the possible exception of music, since that's pretty easy to keep on my mind.

And now it might happen again with historical fencing.

shitsux, man

Icalasari

Just stick with it. Even if it is gruelling

Lisztening

Yes, it's all a matter of forcing yourself to be obsessive about it and not wuss out and retreat if complications or injuries (ugh torn quadriceps) happen. For the latter, injuries are usually less severe than they feel by the way, just exercise some common sense with those but work less extremely instead of not work at all when those are hanging over head.

It worked for piano and exercise for me, so I'm putting it out there.

Wicked223

...you tore your quadriceps playing piano? :P

Lisztening

Football. XP Mainly inadequate warmup before sprinting, stupid of me yeah.

MadassAlex

Some things are easier to get passionate about than others.

Take my (/predictabo) swordsmanship, for instance. I constantly keep myself inspired because I remember that this is a martial art from hundreds of years ago that literally died, was pulled from its grave, reconstructed and made whooole once more ahahahaaaaa-ghakahahahaaa

8D

I guess I'm saying you should think about the things you like in context of what makes them so enticing and gripping in the first place.

Wicked223

I guess I'm saying you should think about the things you like in context of what makes them so enticing and gripping in the first place.

really?

because, well, let's be real here, most of the reasons I originally became interested in these things aren't very compelling.

I became interested in programming after playing free online games made me curious about their inner workings, and several years later I tried to move a white rectangle across a screen in pygame and failed miserably. After that, my sole attempt at getting better at it was getting a copy of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, that I promptly put down because of the high-level math it involves.

none of the others are much better than that.

Lisztening

I think that's a very compelling reason to get into something actually!

The problem seems to be rather that you can't wait to jump into the fun, difficult stuff before mastering the simple stuff. Everything builds up from the basics. I hated practicing scales too but after a decade it finally hit me how essential those are in getting Chopin and Liszt shit down without being overwhelmed.

It's just a matter of remembering that we've got more time than we think to master our arts. Think in years, even decades, not months or weeks or something. I recall they say that in order to become an expert at something, you have to invest 10000 hours honing your skill. From my own experience, it's not that far off.

Wicked223

bleh, I know all that already.

it's just hard motivating myself to continue something after I've mostly lost interest in it.

Lisztening

I wish I could help more but really, nothing is fun at the beginning and all I could say is to harden your resolve and deal with the tediousness that's present at the beginning of all disciplines, for failure to stick to something is pretty much the root of mediocrity in pretty much skill or profession.

MadassAlex

curious about their inner workings

---

This is always an awesome reason, but sometimes you have to look from a few different perspectives. For instance, the inner workings of games aren't just about programming; they're about the abstraction of reality so as to represent actions on your computer on a tabletop.

I can barely code anything, but I still have a hoot observing and studying games, and then using those observations to construct my own theory and jargon around those concepts so I can better understand other games.

Vivi

Would you guys say that becoming well known for something you have an interest in is a bad reason to pursue it?

MillerCross

If it is the whole reason to pursue it, then yes. 

If you wanna do it because you want to be proficient in that area, then it's a-ok

Vivi

What if it's both

Forzare

Think of it this way: I want to be an actor.

Yes, I'd like to be famous for it, but that would just be icing on the cake. I want to act because it's my passion, not because I want everyone to know who I am.

MillerCross

Desiring fame is not wrong, but putting it before knowledge and proficiency ends up with quite an empty feeling.

But in the matter of desires and dreams, no man is judge

MadassAlex

Women, on the other hand... T_T