How being a manager made me lose my skills
The cursor kept blinking on the blank page, a reminder of my failure.
Blink.
Blink.
The cursor kept blinking on the blank page, a reminder of my failure.
Half an hour of my Power Hour had evaporated just like that.
My task for this hour was simple:
Write an intro tutorial for new members of the premium member area. This would be the first thing they would read after joining.
Blink.
Nothing would come out. I didn’t know where to start or even have an idea of what I wanted to write.
Why was this so hard?
A month ago I would have done it in half an hour. And then maybe spend the rest of the time editing.
Blink.
Ugh!
Frustrated, I decided to do some research instead.
“Maybe I can find something that will inspire me.”
So I started googling intro tutorials and best practices. Reading. Highlighting. Bookmarking. Taking notes.
Ping.
A calendar alert, declaring my Power Hour was over.
Desperate, I took one last look at my page.
Blink… Blink… Blink…
I closed the document.
Tomorrow was another day.
-----------------------------
Ping.
I was furiously writing when I got the calendar alert.
Was that really an hour?
I vowed not to repeat the mistake of the day before and become paralyzed. I just started writing what came to mind.
In the beginning, it didn’t make much sense. But with time it got a little better.
By the end of the hour, I had written 2000 words.
The problem?
I was not sure I could use any of it.
I mean, the words were on the page. It was just the wrong words.
I was having a hard time figuring out what I wanted to write. My writing was overly complex, instead of simple.
But at least I had written something. And for today, that was a win.
For the next few days, I continued working on it.
Until, one magical day, it happened. I was happy with my text.
As I pondered about my struggle, I realized something:
When you become a manager, you stop practicing your craft.
You see, you start by making things. Writing. Creating spreadsheets. Writing code. Making sales calls.
With practice, you get better at your craft. And it’s at this point you’ll normally be thrown into management.
But now there are a million other things you need to do.
And you stop practicing your craft.
Weeks or months later, you might have a project you want to work on. And you’ll need your skills again. Yet, you don’t have them anymore - or at least you’re not as good.
The thing that got you into where you are right now.
Isn’t that crazy?
If you stop for a moment, it’s easy to understand why:
Because you went from writing code to editing or reviewing code.
From making sales calls to creating sales strategies and workflows.
From making the spreadsheets to analyzing them.
A good manager is skilled at his craft. You don’t need to be the best of your team. But you need a good skill level.
And there’s only one way to make sure you practice your craft:
You have to make time to practice it.
And the best way to do so is to work on your projects. On what you want to do.
Like wanting to work on the new premium member area.
It was a project that helped me get back to working on my craft.
This was my second discovery as a manager.
Over the next few months, I’d discover a lot more…