Two weeks ago, I was flooded with articles on specialization in all that you do. This week, I’m being flooded with articles on generalization in all that you do. We are still in the early period of adoption of AI, which means no one really knows. Learn, focus on your work, identify opportunities for growth, block out the noise, and move forward.
Since the new year, everyone on my LinkedIn feed has become an expert. I don’t know what happened over Xmas, but everyone is now an expert. Which is scary, because if everyone is an expert, who is doing the learning? And if we all became experts over the 3 week Xmas break, why aren’t we selling that? And if you learned everything, how did you apply it to your job immediately to become an expert?…
I remember when we had to do this in grade school, when the teacher would ask us to mark our own work. Some would give themselves an A+. Others would be too hard on themselves, almost failing themselves. And some would give enough to say – “yeah, good start, but you have more to do.” The ones that didn’t give themselves an A+ are the ones that learned from an early age, it’s not the…
The best way to figure out how things work is to take it apart and see. Now, if it’s a $10,000 engine, you might want to start with a lawnmower (apply common sense). But the best way to see how code runs, to see how art is created, to see what it takes to finish a book… Has always been to take it apart and do it.
In school, this was the phrase you would hear from a teacher as they walked the room while you were doing “Independent” work – “Head Down, Do your own work.” You don’t need to check up on what everyone else is doing to see if you’re ahead or behind. You just need to keep your head down and do your own work.