4 ms·

As an American, I would agree with this. I wish I'd stuck with a sport beyond what my parents made me do as a 7-year-old. While it may not have been my favorite

by bicx 10y ago

As an American, I would agree with this. I wish I'd stuck with a sport beyond what my parents made me do as a 7-year-old. While it may not have been my favorite thing to do, there's a lot I missed out on. When I was a kid, being a nerd wasn't cool. You didn't make friends that way. That took a toll on self-confidence until my mid-20s when suddenly my nerd tendencies became really profitable and appreciated. Before that, I just accepted that people thought I was a little weird. But more than that, I realized that there were many life lessons regarding self-discipline, training, and teamwork that I missed as well. I ended up working for a startup founded by college athletes (not your stereotypical jocks, but smart, driven people) and you could see that their leadership, discipline, and motivational skills were already well-developed from their soccer days. For me, working on software teams was my first real collaborative team experience, and I could tell they were leagues beyond me in understanding and developing team dynamics.

cdubzzz 10y ago
> But more than that, I realized that there were many life lessons regarding self-discipline, training, and teamwork that I missed as well. Absolutely this. I did play football in high school and actually was not really in to it at all (parents forced me to play something). I was also quite anti-social, in to computers and video games, never went to parties, etc. Then I got a degree in English literature and spent three years in the Peace Corps. These things all coalesced in interesting ways for me: - Football taught me about self-discipline, training, teamwork, leadership, etc. - My hobby interest in computers from a young age built up a strong technical foundation and ultimately gave me the skills needed to land my first job. - Studying English lit. taught me about effective written and verbal communication, analytical and critical thinking (beyond what I learned doing development), etc. and has been massively useful in my work life. - Peace Corps taught me how to be social (finally!), patient, self-motivated, etc. and also about generalities surrounding important things such as culture, language, history and identity. All of this stuff has led me to success in the job market and, I think, a powerful appreciation for my work and the work/life balance. It's very interesting to think about.
j2bax 10y ago
I pretty much realized by Middle School (6th grade) that sports weren't for me despite having fun playing them on the playground in Elementary school. I instead started fostering a lifelong appreciation of music as my extracurricular activity. This is probably because my dad was very musical and never showed any interest in sports. Growing up I never played ball with my dad, but I would jam with him and his music friends regularly. In middle school I hung out with a strange blend of jocks, nerds and punk rockers and never felt like I missed out on friendships because of my lack of sportiness. I don't feel like my life is any less rich because I chose to not be obsessed with sports. My wife who grew up with a sports fanatic for a dad gives me shit sometimes, but I try not to let it get to me. I can now enjoy my passion wherever I am, while I work, while I'm exercising (blah!) and I have a hobby (playing guitars/drums and listening to music) that I can do pretty much until my deathbed.

by bicx 10y ago

cdubzzz 10y ago

> But more than that, I realized that there were many life lessons regarding self-discipline, training, and teamwork that I missed as well. Absolutely this. I did play football in high school and actually was not really in to it at all (parents forced me to play something). I was also quite anti-social, in to computers and video games, never went to parties, etc. Then I got a degree in English literature and spent three years in the Peace Corps. These things all coalesced in interesting ways for me: - Football taught me about self-discipline, training, teamwork, leadership, etc. - My hobby interest in computers from a young age built up a strong technical foundation and ultimately gave me the skills needed to land my first job. - Studying English lit. taught me about effective written and verbal communication, analytical and critical thinking (beyond what I learned doing development), etc. and has been massively useful in my work life. - Peace Corps taught me how to be social (finally!), patient, self-motivated, etc. and also about generalities surrounding important things such as culture, language, history and identity. All of this stuff has led me to success in the job market and, I think, a powerful appreciation for my work and the work/life balance. It's very interesting to think about.

j2bax 10y ago

I pretty much realized by Middle School (6th grade) that sports weren't for me despite having fun playing them on the playground in Elementary school. I instead started fostering a lifelong appreciation of music as my extracurricular activity. This is probably because my dad was very musical and never showed any interest in sports. Growing up I never played ball with my dad, but I would jam with him and his music friends regularly. In middle school I hung out with a strange blend of jocks, nerds and punk rockers and never felt like I missed out on friendships because of my lack of sportiness. I don't feel like my life is any less rich because I chose to not be obsessed with sports. My wife who grew up with a sports fanatic for a dad gives me shit sometimes, but I try not to let it get to me. I can now enjoy my passion wherever I am, while I work, while I'm exercising (blah!) and I have a hobby (playing guitars/drums and listening to music) that I can do pretty much until my deathbed.