5 steps towards becoming better

On a flight home, I was busy watching Six Feet Under (season one, episode 13), when it dawned on me....my desktop was ridiculously filthy. Now, I'm not know as a particularly clean person, but for some reason, I felt compelled to clean up my desktop.

So, I clicked on the random notepad files, quickly glancing at them, and then either filing or discarding them as needed....I found one that I hadn't seen in a long long time.

Its a small document entitled "Better".....and it contained some notes I took while reading a book a few months ago.

In the very excellent book "Better", the Harvard Medical School professor and Mass. General surgeon Atul Gawande lays out his thesis for better performance. While the vast majority of the book focuses specifically on his chosen profession of medicine, the ending contained a very simple 5 step plan for being...well...better...at whatever you choose to pursue in your own life.

1) Everyday, ask somebody an unscripted question.

ipods, blackberries, technology has led to the rapid decline in random communication. strike up an unscripted conversation with the person next to you on the bus....great advice, that seems oddly ironic, because I'm typing this with my headphones on, and my neighbor on the flight seems to be doing the exact same thing.


2) When something happens that you perceive as "happening to you", don't complain.

about a month ago, I got rejected from all the top business schools in the country. While I was incredibly stressed out for the month leading up to the rejection, I felt oddly liberated upon hearing the news. Some of my best friends are attending prestigious schools like HBS, Kellogg, Chicago GSB, and Wharton next year....and I'll be on the sidelines, going through the process of applying again next year. The process will be painful, but, with the lessons that I picked up this year, I hope to do a better job at applying....and hopefully, getting in this time around.

3) Count something.......

better living through....measurement? I've actually applied this to my personal life by measuring my progress and preparing for a half-marathon. I've seen it pay divideds by cutting my average pace from 9:32 min/mile in January to a more respectable 8:48 min/mile here in April. If I can improve something like jogging in such a short amount of time, what else can I improve through measurement?

4) write something

you are looking at it. my blog. i started this as a place to vent my random thoughts....and to save my incredibly patient girlfriend from having to listen to my rants and raves....

so far, i'm happy with the progress....160+ page views, 100+ visitors....and a few guest writers. I'm really excited for the future of this site, and I hope that others can share in that excitement with me.

and finally....the last (and I believe) most important lesson....

5) CHANGE

Don't talk about Change. Don't think about Change. If you want to change, change. I've always wanted to get into photography...so I went out and bought a nice camera. I still stink as a photographer but, I'm making progress. Sometimes, the risk of not changing is much greater than the risk of changing. Take a wrong step....you might learn something new about yourself.

if you get a chance to read the book, I highly recommend it. If you don't, then I hope that my little opus shed a little light into the continually process that we all go through....in order to become "Better".