About nine years ago I
started a blog that tracked my progress in taking 99 dates to the 99 Essential
Restaurants from Jonathan Gold’s LA Weekly column. To make it interesting but extremely complicated for myself, I chose to do this within one calendar year in the middle of completing a teaching credential program. How
did I do? Well, I failed. I did not complete the restaurant list nor did I get
the girl. Along the way, I did enjoy some fine meals and had some good
conversations. And then one day, life became complicated and, just like that, I
stopped writing.
But what if I started
again? And what if I aimed for a different objective? What if I went with an ear to
listen rather than a palate to satisfy? What if I were more interested in the
quality of my questions of very smart people than in a list of very good
restaurants? In short, what if I started not to finish the race but instead to
enjoy the journey?
This is the framework
from which I begin this blog: asking better questions of high performers about
what motivates them to succeed and improve their game. These are individuals
that I already know and wish to dig deeper into the resources that have made
them who they are today: what are their routines, hobbies, and favorite books.
Whatever fields in which I explore, whether it be magic, education or computer
science, I want to ask good questions for a very simple reason: I want to learn
some of these skills for my current job, teaching high school English. And
also, I simply want to be better. And I will do all this over lunch. This
project does not have a due date nor is it a requirement to fulfill all the
restaurant’s on Gold’s list. The restaurant list is simply a resource in which
to draw from. My influences in this endeavor of gaining expertise and
maximizing performance are Tim Ferriss, Seneca, and, of course, Jonathan Gold.
“What was the object of
all the study applied to an art if they would reach but a very few? I am
content with few. I am content with one. Content with none at all!”
-Seneca
Along the way a friend
of mine asked me a question: “What if nobody reads your blog? Wouldn’t you
simply be wasting your time? What if nobody cares?” To this I had a ready
answer: I already have one fanatical reader. And he has already gained an
enormous benefit from the interviews he has had thus far. It is not a bad deal when you can lean just a little on your friends in the form of a good
question and get an enormous wealth of wisdom in return for the cost of lunch. In the words of
Woodrow Wilson, “I not only use all the brains I have but all that I can
borrow.”
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