James Barry

Growing up, I played a LOT of videogames. Hundreds of different ones.

I was a late millennial, and at the turn of the century I was just six years old. The internet was the Wild Wild West.

Among the many games I played, there is one I will always remember: Stick RPG.

It’s a straightforward, early 2000s RPG. Not too many things to do, but definitely enough to keep my 6-year old brain entertained.

At the root of the game you had three basic stats: Charm. Strength. Intelligence.

The more stats you had in one category, the more you could do in the game.

For example, if you had more strength, you could deal more damage in fight.

If you had more charm, you had more options when interacting with others.

The most important stat though was intelligence.

More intelligence would allow you to work better jobs, allowing you to make more money, allowing you to buy more things.

At the end of the day, the entire game was about making more money.

So what’s the first thing that I would do in the game?

I would get a skateboard (so I could move around faster), but then immediately after that spend every single day at the U of S. (University of Stick of course)

After about 30-days of learning at U of S, I finally had enough intelligence to get a high paying job.

I would then work a few days a week, which gave me enough money to do anything else I wanted in the game.

While this is not how life actually works, it made me think about what parallels there might be.

Specifically, what are the most important skills you should learn first?

Quora says adapting to change.

Common sense says communication, finances, and how to live independently.

Anything that can compound over time, is something I think that’s worth learning early on.

The most important part though, is to just keep on learning. Regardless of what you decide to learn.

I started writing because I wanted to accomplish something.

Anything at all.

I thought “writing an article once a week for a year will be an impressive achievement”.

Now that I’m on my 40th something article, (47th to be exact if you count this one), I would not call it impressive.

It’s an achievement for sure. A hard one at that.

But it’s not “impressive”.

Writing 52 GOOD articles would have been impressive.

Every single one, well-written. All tied together with a specific topic and focus.

That does not describe this blog, at least not yet.

What this blog does show though, in a very, very cool way, is my journey becoming a writer.

A writer so cool, that he still uses the word very twice in a row.

In a way, it’s a personal journey that helped me better understand what I enjoy writing about. What I feel comfortable publishing.

I also wrote on social media (specifically LinkedIn), but that writing was meant to manufacture engagement.

Which eventually made it super boring, or I oriented too much towards storytelling and sharing.

Not the same.

This blog allowed me to learn what I was good at writing, and what I also enjoyed about it.

How to better manage and develop a creative process.

Organize my ideas and my time. (Definitely ideas, still not so great at managing time)

It’s also given me a super fun habit that I feel allows me to just freely express myself.

Which in a way, is writing’s best reward.

The years from 0 to 18 are precious ones.

They are core to our development and can dictate who we become.

Most of us can do anything at this age. Pursue school, sports, arts, videogames, sex, etc.

Youth wasn’t always this way though. In the 1800s in America, youth was not a blank slate.

Usually, you were 1 of 10 children that were expected to work and support the family.

Families were this large because inevitably, at least one child would die. Usually more.

For many, this system ground them down. Just imagine being put in a coal mine before your a teenager.

Today, these environments are rare, especially in the US.

So many of us, who are lucky, grow up with a blank slate.

There are still opportunities to “work” though. They just aren’t forced.

Working in the modern world can mean many different things.

It could be helping your parents out at their restaurant.

Running a lemonade stand on the corner.

Starting a meme account on Instagram.

Your own Youtube channel.

Perhaps becoming a professional gamer.

The possibilities are not endless, but they are a lot more varied than in previous centuries.

Yet, there is still a large part of the population that follows a standard track:

Elementary School –> Middle School –> High School –> College –> ???

Many don’t have a solid plan in place though once they graduate college, because at that point work experience is rare.

Youth should be spent trying new things and exploring new experiences.

But in the final light, those experiences will inform who you are and who you will be when you grow up.

It’s just impossible to realize at that time.

Whether you think you can or you can’t you’re right.

– Henry Ford

During one of my first banking interviews, I was asked a classic brain teaser.

“How many pot holes are in Manhattan?”

Luckily for me, I think I’m fairly good at math. Unluckily for me, I think that I am AWFUL at geography.

So, I made a bunch of assumptions and walked the interviewer through my process.

I got to a number right around 100,000 total potholes. Turns out there are right under 10,000 potholes.

The issue? I assumed the island of Manhattan was 100 miles. It’s actually 13.4 miles. No biggie, only off by a factor of seven.

Surprisingly, I got the job and now a decade later I still hold the beliefs that I’m awful at Geography (and still great at math).

However, those beliefs are self-fulfilling prophecies in a way.

We all naturally gravitate towards what we’re good at it. So we practice it more often.

Growing up my siblings were good at math so I always assumed I was.

Whenever there was a chance to try and do mental math, I jumped at it.

Today, I still do. For example, I always calculate restaurant tips even if I’m not paying.

(Here’s a way to do it instantly: Remove one 0 from the total bill to get to a 10% tip. So if you have a $150 bill, 10% would be $15. Then just double that to $30 and you get to a 20% tip.)

When it comes to Geography though, I never try and figure out where anything is.

I just shrug my shoulders, raise my hands and immediately pull out Google Maps.

I don’t take pride in my geographic knowledge, and therefore I never practice it.

I’ve even said out loud many times that I am awful at Geography.

However, if I practiced trying to memorize Geography as often as I do mental math, I’d likely be a lot better.

Sometimes, just believing our abilities can make the biggest difference.