Why Apprentice Adult?

For me, the title is a double entendre. Firstly, since I’ve recently become a “legal adult”, I view myself as an apprentice to all of the additional responsibilities, expectations, and opportunities presented to me. Since I have only been in the game for a moment, I have much to learn, thus the apprentice title.

The second reason for the title is because of my intention to use the next few years for personal and professional growth. Inspired by the work of Scott Young, Cal Newport, and Gary Vaynerchuk, I’ve realized in order to create the type of life I want, I need to get so good I can’t be ignored (thank you, Cal, for this phrasing.)

Despite my decision to commit to one craft, I also personally believe that variety is the spice of life, and innovation results in the cross-sections no one else plays in. Thus, to validate my need for novelty and expand my horizons, I’ve decided to explore various hobbies.

My intention to constantly explore new activities is the second reason for the name. In my view, there is often a self-imposed stigma about adults trying new things or learning new skills. Being a beginner is highly uncomfortable. This is especially true for people like myself that have an ego.

The Intention

At this point, you’re probably thinking to yourself “that’s a nice manifesto, but what’s the point?” For me, the intent is two-fold. Firstly, I’m hoping to derive benefit from writing the blog posts and trialing different skills.

Although the writing benefit should be self-evident, I’ll expand upon it briefly.  I’ve decided to dedicate myself to written and verbal communication. To do it well, I must write, a lot. Further, a majority of my work will be average or below (thanks to statistics for this sobering reminder.)

In order to produce the 10,000 shitty first drafts, I’ve decided to write a bi-weekly blog. Not only will this force me to write on a consistent schedule, which will be required if I want to make writing a large component of my career,  but will also give me practice at properly writing in a near-universally understandable way.

Aside from improving my ability to communicate via the written word, I hope this exercise will foster more humility into me. One of my favorite characters from Avatar the Last Airbender said that true humility is the only antidote to shame, and boy do I regularly feel shame.

I believe attempting to foster more humility will benefit my personal life immensely. Humility may also help me combat the demons of self-loathing and self-doubt that plague me. Through becoming a perpetual beginner, it is my hope that in time I will learn to regard myself kindly, despite the obvious lack of skill in a particular task.

Lastly, through publishing it in a public forum, it is my hope that at least one person can gain some nugget of wisdom from my failures and successes. I also hope that seeing a fairly unremarkable young adult attempting to learn new things and better themselves despite their self-doubt will inspire someone else with a similar temperament to consider the same.

What Comes Next

So, if you’ve made it this far, first let me say thank you! I really appreciate the time you spent reading an article that’ll likely provide you with little to no value. Secondly, with that being said, I’m going to attempt to make sure the next articles do not fall into this vein.

Therefore, if you decide to keep reading after this one, here’s what you should expect. I plan to publish an article every other Sunday. In this article, I plan to chronical any new novel things that happen in adulthood, say, first time investing, taxes, etc. In addition, I also hope to chronicle my progress with whatever new skill or activity I’m trying to learn.

It’s my belief that you’ll gain some kind of value through these posts, whether it be entertainment by laughing at my stupidity, or maybe, just maybe, a neat tip or trick for a new or existing hobby. Once again, thank you for reading this far and I hope you’ll stick around for the next post!