Competence

How pathetic is it that I believe that one of the best feelings in the world is that of competence? Yesterday, in math class, we were given a complicated math problem that involved multiplying negative numbers with exponents on them, and I felt good when I eventually came up with the correct answer. As an leader of eleven-year-old Scouts, I sometimes struggle finding ways to keep the boys interested as we try to fulfill Boy Scout requirements, but I recently received a compliment that at least one of the boys thinks I'm funny, so I must be doing something right. And I've always been the kind of person that tinkers on the piano occasionally, and now that I've learned how to sort-of read sheet music, I've been able to learn how to play some hymns correctly, and it's actually sounding pretty good.

I don't mean to toot my own horn here. I'm just trying to illustrate the point that succeeding at things can make people happy. Sometimes things take a lot of practice and hard work, but the resulting feelings of competence and success are totally worth it. If you want to boost your happiness, and you know something that you're good at, go ahead and do that thing, then step back and appreciate the job well done. Alternatively, if you don't know what your talents are yet, develop one. Until this week, I would have told you that I'm not really very good at math, but I'm catching on pretty quickly. Until I became a scout leader, I believed that I served best in a following position and that my leadership skills were sub-par. And before I learned the tricks for finding the right notes on a piano, I could only sound them out one at a time, which sounded pretty lame.

Whatever talents you have or would like to have, it's worth spending a little bit of time and effort developing them. Becoming good at something is exciting and satisfying, as I've been fortunate to experience. Often, you'll need someone to help teach you the tricks, and you'll certainly need to invest some time in practicing the needed skills, but I think you'll find that the results are worth it, especially if you sometimes struggle with your self-worth. I sometimes do, or did, but knowing that I'm competent at some things, and that I can develop competence in areas where I previously had no skill, helps me feel that I have value and potential that I simply couldn't see before. A beautiful painting is obviously beautiful, while a blank canvass, by comparison, seems bland. But beautiful things can be painted on a blank canvass, just as a person without obvious talents can develop talents during their life.

So, find something you're good at or that you'd like to be good at, practice it whenever you get the chance, and then try to appreciate how competent you've become at that thing and see how good that makes you feel. It certainly makes me feel good to know that I have a talent or two that I didn't have before.