Once upon a time there was a really, really good digger. Nobody could dig like this person – they were like the John Henry of digging holes. They would just dig and dig and dig.
And so they were in a pretty deep hole. And they looked around and said, “I don’t really want to be in this hole, to be honest.”
So the digger called up a friend and said that they didn’t want to be down there any more. And the friend offered what felt like pretty obvious advice: “Okay, then stop digging and start climbing.”
But the digger replied: “But I’m really really good at digging. I’m not very good at climbing, in fact I’ve barely done it before.”
The friend said: “Well, sure you’re really good at digging. You’re the best! But you don’t want to be in a hole. You can’t dig your way out. So you have to decide which is more important: doing a thing you’re really good at, and everyone praises you for, and is comfortable to you, and that you’ve built habits around…
“Or not being in a hole.”
The Opportunity Machine 