The internet is amazing! I think it is easy to forget just how simple it is to get information on just about anything, anytime and anywhere. For a person like me, with my constant need for a new challenge, that can be dangerous. I have always believed that a person can do just about anything they want if they have a strong desire, are willing to work hard, believe in themselves and lastly, do the proper research.
Ahhh, the research.
Almost everything that I do, is self taught. I didn’t go to school for my current career as a Sound Editor. I always figured that I could go find the books that any college professor would make me read, and learn it myself while saving a ton of money in the process. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with college, as there are many professions that require it. God forbid I had a doctor working on my spleen that skipped the college part. Anyway, for me, having all of this information is great because it gives me the tools to try new things. I get bored very easily and I love a new challenge. I love the thrill of being a novice at something. I love the discovery period. Learning all of the tiny little nuances of a subject and the proper etiquette. I love the fear of starting something and I love the fear of failing. But most importantly, I love conquering that fear and doing it anyway. Then as time passes, through dedication and practice, hopefully I become proficient at it or better yet a master. This is what keeps me feeling alive instead of just existing.
The internet has been an indispensable tool in my recent endeavors. When I started running a few years ago, I was able to do a ton of research and learn in a relatively short time what would have taken countless books, magazines and conversations, not to mention a lot more time, to accumulate. I don’t watch TV so I would sit at my laptop for hours every night reading everything I could get my hands on about running. Magazine articles, forums, blogs and podcasts. Soaking up everything I could get into my browser, and unfortunately, believing almost all of it. And that is the problem with information. It is not always accurate. How do you know what is good and what is bad information? I look back now on some of the things that I read and repeated as gospel and it is rather embarrassing.
This brings me too my original point. No matter what you set out to do, or master, there is no substitute for experience. And experience entails trial and error. A scientific experiment of one.
I have spent the last 2 days trying to figure out why I ended up on the side of a mountain, 25 miles into my first ultra-marathon, unable to get off my ass without wanting to puke or pass out. Wondering why I was the last person on the course, struggling to finish. I have been beating myself up for only taking in about 1,000 calories in over 9 hours when I KNOW BETTER! I consumed roughly 300 calories an hour last month in my Ironman. How could I make such a dumb mistake? I have googled the appropriate questions for definitive answers. If someone would just TELL me how many calories to consume I would be fine. They could tell me the proper ratio of carbs to protein. Exactly how much water to drink and when. If I could just find THE answer, it would solve my problem. But the problem is, that I did find an answer. I found about 20 of them. All different, conflicting answers that were confusing and ambiguous.
And then I came back to what I know and what excites me most. There are no shortcuts. You can read all you want, but there is no substitute for experience. The reason that I was last was because it was my first. The people ahead of me have already made the mistakes and learned from them. They have experimented and have applied the science. They have become masters. And I am a novice, again.
I hope I never run out of things to master.
Paul
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