
Have you ever used a Hammer when you should've used a set of pliers?
Or after trying pliers, you grabbed the handy hammer and just hit the thing? LOL.
There are a dozen times in my life when I reached in my toolbox to pick up the same old trusty tool, only to later realize it was the wrong one. I finally identified that I was overusing a tool (strength, skill, experience, etc.).
We are on autopilot so often we don't even stop to think, 'which tool should I be using for this activity?'
Which is your favorite tool? Do you know when you overuse a tool?
BROADEN Your Toolbox:
Daniel Epstein is the author of Range, Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World and his research is shifting us to think about expanding our range vs. specialization. He suggests we learn to drop our familiar tools and experiment.
"No tool is omnicompetent. There is no such thing as a master-key that will unlock all doors." - Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History
Epstein discovered in a complex and unpredictable field, generalist not specialists are primed to excel. Generalist find their path late, have tried a lot of experiments and rather than having a single tool, they have managed to collect and protect an entire tool shed. They show the power of range in a hyper-specialized world.
What are you interested in that you might want to experiment today?
Have you experimented in the past in a field or activity outside your range, did you find a new tool?
I'm happy to have a quick 15 minute call to discuss further with you, click here to schedule.
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