Specialization is Overrated or Misinterpreted

You may have read or heard that to succeed, you need to be specialized in a core field and work very hard to be the best in it, then you’ll succeed. This is actually true, but there exists a clever path to reach such an aim. Instead of being the best at one thing, it’s better to have a set of 2 or more skills where you are better than 80% percent of the population your work or business is based upon. Belonging to the top 1% of one particular area is hard, but achieving the top 20% of 3 skills is not so hard, you just need to know each skill better. It can be just a matter of math in the end: 20% x 20% x 20% = 0.8%. You can reach the top 1% thanks to a combination of skills that bring value to your work or business project. But to do well, you need to select carefully the skills that are relevant to you, not only those in which you are better than the vast majority of the population.

Specialization prevents us from having a holistic approach

The more we learn about different subjects, the more we see there are similarities that can be used to our advantage. There is a connection between various subjects despite the apparent distance that we can perceive. That’s why confining ourselves to a particular subject can slow down our progress and prevent us from acquiring other ideas. Letting us take the time to read and explore new matters will give more creativity and pertinence to our own work.

Likewise, having a leisure activity not at all related to our occupation can be the wellspring of new ideas.

Know your assets and build a strategy to your success

Once you become clearer about your areas of skills – often what you enjoy in your life – you can make a draft of how you could integrate them into your work-related life in order to realize a personal recipe of success. This might start with a side activity such as freelancing or volunteering and may lead you to a successful startup.