From (Dilbert creator) Scott Adams, quoted in Tools of Titans:
'If you want an average, successful life, it doesn't take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: 1) Become the best at one specific thing 2) Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.
The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don't recommend anyone even try.
The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at lea fews areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better then most people, but I'm hardly an artist. And I'm not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I'm funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It's the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.
I always advise people to become good public speakers (top 25%). Anyone can do it with practice. If you add that talent to any other, suddenly you're the boss of the people who only have one skill. Or get a degree in business on top of your engineering degree, law degree, medical degree, science degree, or whatever. Suddenly you're in charge, or maybe you're starting your own company using your combined knowledge.
Capitalism rewards things that are both rare and valuable. You make yourself rare by combining two or more 'pretty goods' until no-one else has your mix. AT least one of the skills in your mixture should involve communication, either written or verbal. Adn it could be as simple as learning how to sell more effectively than 75% of the world. That's one. Now add that to whatever your passion is, and you have two.'
I hope that I can teach my girls the value of combinatorial skills.
