I remember when I got back into programming after having left it for electrical engineering for a while. When I looked on the bookshelves at Borders, there just seemed to be an overwhelming amount of stuff to learn.

Nowadays, when I look at the bookstore shelves, there's only a couple topics of interest to me. When I noticed that difference, I asked myself why.

I guess it's because I got better at figuring out what to ignore--developed a sort of taste. I didn't try to learn everything. The only way to cultivate this is to try different things, and learn the core concept, not the actual language or technology.

I think the other thing is to realize that you'll never be #1 in just one thing, unless you're willing to work harder than anyone at it. Like Olympic level hard. Sometimes that's not practical. However, if you can be pretty good, say top 20%, at two things, that when put together is pretty valuable, then that's actually quite doable.

I can always be better myself as well, and have been looking to be better.