The Polymath Advantage: People Who Have “Multiple Skills” Are More Likely to be Successful
The COVID-19 pandemic will change lives and careers than any other event in recent history. We’re not even sure of the duration of the effects yet. We are sure of its scope around the world – hope you are safe and your family is safe and indoors too.
What skills do you need to survive in an uncertain future?
Cross-discipline expertise help can help you survive and thrive in almost any environment.
- Use your time in isolation more efficiently to make space for multiple interests and improve your skills in any disciplines of interest to you.
Capitalism rewards people who are rare and indispensable
Make yourself rare by combining two or more “pretty good” skills until no one else has your mix
- If you want something extraordinary in life, you have two paths:
- Become the best at one specific thing
- Become very good (top 25% of people) at 2 or more things
- The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. I don’t recommend anyone even try.
- The second strategy is fairly easy.
In the digital age, learning has never been easier
Polymath status is accessible to anyone with an open and curious mindset
- However skillful you are in a single domain, you can always make even better connections, fill missing gaps, and think dynamically
- Modern work demands knowledge transfer: the ability to apply knowledge to new situations and different domains
- Our most fundamental thought processes have changed to accommodate increasing complexity and the need to derive new patterns rather than rely only on familiar ones
- Learning multiple complementary skills not only raises your market value but may also make you more successful in the long run