Aim to be Exceptional. Not mediocre! 🐑

After you reach a base level of competence in your job, aim to be exceptional in certain areas in which you have an unfair advantage in!

Hi everybody - In whatever discipline you are specializing in, don’t make being well-rounded your ultimate goal. In the following video, I talk about how to avoid falling into this trap:

You can watch this video on YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, or Twitter / X. Please do share with your friends and enemies on whichever network you prefer to interact with this video on. I would greatly appreciate it.

Lean in on your Unfair Advantages

After you reach a base level of competence in your job, aim to be exceptional in certain areas in which you have an unfair advantage in. These areas could be ones that you are deeply interested in. You greatly enjoy working in that area. Or you just have a natural knack for solving problems in that area.

If you ever play role-playing games (RPGs), there is almost always a part where your character has certain traits that define how your character plays. Those traits start at a base level, and as you gain experience, you have the option of choosing to invest more into the traits that you wish to improve on. You will never be able to maximize all of your traits, so at a certain point, you’ll have to be tactical and invest more in areas that you want to specialize in.

The following is a screenshot from Fallout Shelter, a classic in the RPG genre that borrows the classic S.P.E.C.I.A.L. trait system from the larger Fallout game:

To extend the RPG analogy further, in many RPGs, the type of character you choose gives you some inherent advantages. You can choose to invest in those traits to set your character apart greatly, or you can choose to bring the other traits up to par. What you do in a video game is entirely up to you, but in real life, my suggestion is this: Always maximize your unique traits and strengths. Don’t be mediocre.

There is a Catch

If you are working in an organization and want to maximize your chances of success there, you want to specialize deeply in an area that also has value within your organization:

Otherwise, your specialization is more of a hobby and less of a career-enhancing activity. Matching your unique talents with a place that values them is often the hardest thing to align as part of navigating your career.

Till Next Time

I hope you found this nugget helpful, especially if you are early-in-your career and are still exploring what the next few decades will look like.

As always, I like to hear from you on what you like, don’t like, and/or want from Santa (only a few more days left! ⛄️). To discuss this further or to contact me, feel free to continue the conversation on my Twitter / X post or on the forums.

Cheers,
Kirupa 😀