Why should you master 1 thing

There’s one book I recommend and gift more than any other:

“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman”

Brilliant book.

It’s an autobiography, and it changed my life.

It showed me a way to live where you can be yourself, achieve greatness, and never lose a zeal for life.

There’s so many cool stories that illustrate Dr. Feynman’s ability to do this:

• He used his understanding of rotation in physics to crack supposedly unbreakable safes at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.

• He applied his physics knowledge to investigate the Challenger space shuttle disaster.

• Obviously won the Nobel Prize for his work in quantum mechanics

• And he was an accomplished drummer and painter.

It’s a wild book.

I recommend it.

But my main takeaway was this:

Once you gain mastery in one sphere of competence, it’s exponentially easier to master the next thing.

Even if it’s in a totally different, unrelated skillset.

Feynman's approach to problem-solving often involved drawing insights from seemingly unrelated fields.

Why?

Because earning mastery in one area gives you a reference point.

Now, you know the level of effort, dedication, and persistence required.

You have realistic expectations. And this gifts you the mental fortitude needed to make it through the troughs of despair that you’ll find in a new field.

Essentially, you’ve learned how to learn.

But not just surface level learning.

You’ve went down a rabbit hole and made it back out. So, when you go down that badger hole, you know what to expect (mostly).

Maybe even more importantly, success in one area builds confidence.

You have social proof now.

And no one can take that away.

I suck at sales, but I’m a really good banjo player.

Not really related at all.

But it gives me confidence in my in one's ability to master something.

I’ve proven to myself that I can do something really hard at a professional level.

If I can do that, there’s no doubt in my mind that I can master sales.

So get out there and master something!

Maybe you already have.

If you have, then I hope this has inspired you to master something else that’ll make the world a better place for you and the people you love.

I believe in you.

Swanagan

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