Caterina.net: Obsessions and Spare Time Pursuits

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{ Tuesday, January 27, 2009 }

Obsessions and Spare Time Pursuits

Obsessions are one of the greatest telltale signs of success. Understand a person's obsessions and you will understand her natural motivation. The thing for which she would walk to the end of the earth.

It turns out that The Interview Question You Should Always Ask is "What do you do in your spare time?". Sullenberger, who landed the plane in the Hudson a few weeks ago, had a great "spare time"' resume:

In Captain Sullenberger's case, the first clue that he would become Captain Sullenberger the hero is that, in his teens, when most of his friends were getting their driver's licenses, he got his pilot's license. What did he do for fun? He flew glider planes. Which is basically what he did when he landed in the Hudson River with no engines. Extracurricular activities? He was an Accident Investigator for the Air Line Pilots Association and worked with federal aviation officials to improve training and methods for evacuating aircraft in emergencies.

As someone noted in the comments of Global Nerdy, this didn't make for a particularly well-rounded guy. I've often quoted this, from Robert Heinlein:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

...quoted most recently in 2003, in another blog post about obsessions, and whether or not it is possible to know a lot about one thing without knowing less of another, in the context of designing Game Neverending.

LINK | 5:24 PM | TB

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{ COMMENTS }

Heinlein's human is noble indeed.

I think I married him, reader. Have found that a man who can change a diaper, drive a submarine, write a sonnet and butcher a hog is, indeed, a good man to have around.

Something to celebrate.

victoria thorne | January 30, 2009 12:26 PM

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If you want to be well rounded, do a lot of things. If you want to be top of the line at something, though--golf, basketball, composing music, surgery, whatever--you need to focus on it for thousands of hours. You can be well rounded, or you can be Clapton, Tiger, Hepburn, Jordan, Mozart, DiMaggio, Shakespeare...

Laserlight | February 2, 2009 2:48 PM

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Funny, Heinlein's quote. My introductory economics textbook in college specifically made the point that one good reason Western economies have done well, while others (Nepal was given as an example) have not, is that workers in the former specialize. A Nepalese might be able to sew, hunt, and farm, but it would take hundreds of them to do the same amount of it as three Americans who specialized.

Matt | February 2, 2009 11:28 PM

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Heinlein's quote is indeed profoundly retarded as most of those things are not things you should be doing all half-assed. Particularly "plan an invasion."

I second the notion that specializing, which creates opportunities for trade, is what humans are meant to do.

Noumenon | February 3, 2009 8:34 AM

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It is a fork in the road for lots of us, deliberate or not.
Some achieve a lot in a single field with focus, at the cost of other aspects, while others are happy working and taking care of Tasks(The "Will\Living trust" one never made), Family(Being a companion, a parent, a role model), Health in top of this thing called Work.

Interesting to run into your blog, came from your linked reco for Rajat@Bunchball and ofcourse knew you from being in Yahoo, watching Brickhouse and other projects.

Regards
Amit

Amit C | February 4, 2009 3:56 PM

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I hate that interview question - What do I do on my spare time. None of your beeswax! is what I'm thinking. My private time is my private time. I may change my baby's diaper, I may invent a new musical instrument, or I may just watch "Gossip Girl" on CW. Judge me on my work, not my hobbies...

Yumio | February 10, 2009 10:50 PM

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Cancer will not be cured without specialization, though. It may be cool to have a broad range of skills, but it takes sacrifice to specialize.

SH | February 20, 2009 8:44 AM

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