Where Does Excellence Live?
This week's piece explores the notion of becoming the people who you surround yourself with.
Read it here: You Are Not Who You Surround Yourself With
This is another piece that's been sitting on the back burner for a while, mostly because I'm not sure that it lands on a clear answer. But it has some interesting anecdotes and it'll make you think.
In short, I think the idea that you are who you surround yourself with is both true and untrue.
A counter-example I think about is my own meditation practice. I've been meditating since 2010, but only in the last couple of years have I truly become consistent at sitting every day. What triggered the change that created this durable version of the habit? Is it because I surrounded myself with other meditators? No. The only changes were in my internal life.
On the other hand, having a peer group of people pursuing similar goals can be hugely enabling. Had I not been part of the Chicago indie game scene, there's no way I would have been able to make TumbleSeed because:
- It was a team project, and I would've never met my collaborators
- Making an indie game for multiple years is just a hugely crazy thing to do—you would feel genuinely insane without others doing the same thing (or, more insane than you already do)
But also, if you've ever been in the indie game scene you know that the number of people actually making games in a serious way is pretty small. The number of people who "want to make games", have surrounded themselves with people who do so, and still have never made anything is huge!
Maybe my reluctance to buy into this idea of creating a world by throwing yourself 1000% into something prevents hugely successful outcomes. But I also think people who create little bubbles around themselves to achieve their goals become abjectly annoying.
When you see the world from a singular porthole that version of things is just untrue. I'd rather come closer to some version of truth than achieve some accomplishment by putting horse blinders on and charging forward.
As always, I love hearing your thoughts :) See you next week!
Benedict