The Passive Man's Guide to Conquering the World

That will be the name of my autobiography.

Except I'm too passive to write it.

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A short list of my personality flaws:

• Bias towards over-analysis
• Dislike of conflict
• Tendency to be lazy
• Prone to be inconsistent
• Can be self-indulgent
• Anti-institutional to a fault
• Decidedly undisciplined
• Crippling fear of failure
• Don't have an "off" switch
• In certain circumstances, cruel
• Awfully self-critical
• Incurable snob
• Either shy or obnoxious
• Sometimes both
• Emotionally distant
• Sometimes needy
• Overtly pedantic

I'm sure my wife and family could add a few others.

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What's the point of listing all these?  I don't know.  I guess it's an effort to look at myself honestly.  In another way, it translates into a list of goals.  I want to be better about these things. 

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Yesterday I turned 29.  Not very exciting.  Last year I turned 28 on the 28th.  I kept waiting for something to happen.  I even waited until the exact time of day that I was born.  It passed without incident; I think I was watching TV. 

I didn't expect anything to happen on this birthday, and nothing did.

Comments

[karl]

Are you serious? I turned 32 on the 27th!

[karl]

When I turned 31, that was a big deal to me. 29? I haven't that foggiest.

[Jeff Noble]

I have no idea why I love this particular entry so much. Perhaps the sheer audacity of telling us all what a goob you are? Or it could be that it has inspired (or is it de-spired?) me to consider my own long list of shortcomings.

But I liked it. A lot. Thanks!

[Jeff Noble]

OK... I finally sucked it up and did it..

http://journeyguy.typepad.com/notes_from_the_trail/2006/03/a_little_selffl.html