The positive influence of diversity, adaptability and constant challenge is recurrent in Nicholas Nassim Taleb’s writings. Reinforced in Tennessee William’s essay “The Catastrophe of Success,” both authours reckon that the human race is designed for challenge and discomfort, where excessive comfort and security is to die a death of sorts (William’s coinage).
And they might well be right.
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Few, if any, pro cyclists spend their off-season trekking in the Himalayas. Fewer still have a myriad of eclectic hobbies, interests or sideline enterprises. But then Adam Hansen is not your usual bike rider.
Reading about the versatile and interesting Lotto-Soudal rider in this excellent piece on the equally excellent and cerebral CyclingTips website, I can’t help but admire Hansen’s diversity, idiosyncrasies and sheer will to get the most out of life. Pro cyclist, a clothing business, producing his own cycling shoes, developing a project management software tool for his team management: the list of Hansen’s roles seems endless. And good for him.
Another reader is dismissive of the Australian strongman’s multiple directions, commenting that “like a lot of people who split their time and energy, the many things they start are not serious commercial pursuits.” While this commentary is certainly valid in some respects, having several talents and ventures is not a bad thing when viewed in an entrepreneurial context, not to mention the motivations thereof.
Hansen seems to revel in a life less ordinary. Having accumulated thirteen consecutive Grand Tours in a little over four racing seasons (Giro, Le Tour and Vuleta each season), he is perhaps the peloton’s true ying-yang practitioner. Ride, eat and sleep is not a mantra that applies to the former computer programmer who truly needs mental stimulation to balance out the sheer physicality of his day job. Based in a tiny Croatian village for most of the year, Hansen eschews the more popular cycling hotbeds of France or Spain favoured by other English-speaking riders. He switches off completely when home, often not touching his bike in favour of rest, running his businesses and hiking in the mountains. I might be wrong but there simply is not another pro rider like him.
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Having just finished reading another essay, Peter Drucker’s “Managing Oneself,” Drucker’s work is actually a chapter of a greater book on business management and is a worthy read. Developing and working to one’s strengths is encouraged and discussed at length, where he intimates that focussing on improving a person’s weaknesses tends to result in mediocrity instead of excellence.
Drucker goes on to speak of the parallel career, one which is borne out of either the quest for personal growth and development or sheer boredom, the latter phenomenon often manifesting itself as the clichéd “mid-life crisis.” We are a knowledge-based society he reckons, where many of us spend an eternity in the same career only to effectively retire on the job and wallow in the comfort zone. And while that might be the case for many, the increasing occurrence of “social entrepreneurs” is perhaps a sign not only of our turbulent economic times but of society’s shift in attitude to all-rounders.
In a recent Primal Blueprint Podcast, former pro triathlete Andrew MacNaughton relates how relying on others for one’s retirement is a risky business. He goes on to explain how he needs to be happy and excited in whatever venture that he is involved in, where helping others and figuring out the puzzle is central to his work satisfaction. Professional athlete, IT pioneer, movie director and coach: all roles that MacNaughton has fulfilled at various stages of his life where excitement and love of the activity were/are critical. And once that level of joy was diminished it was time to move on to something else.
The term of “jack of all trades master of none” has been bandied about since the beginning of time and is often used in a derogatory sense. Perhaps it is out of envy or jealousy of those who have the balls to try out new things or start up new ventures instead of resting on their laurels once reaching a ceiling in their careers.
After all, if it was easy then everybody would be doing it.
