Check-In Round
“Cake or pie?”
Cake, in almost every scenario. Unless that cake is drowning in frosting and there’s a banana cream pie laying around.
What Has My Attention
I’ve been thinking a lot about generalization versus specialization. I’ve always held such high esteem for extreme specialists. I’m always impressed by someone who has dedicated their lives to understanding something better and more completely than anyone else. In some ways, it seems like the ultimate proof of a life dedicated to focus, concentration, and deliberate practice (some of my favorite things).
This admiration for specialists has always filled me with a little bit of shame, though, because I will never be like that. I was certainly on that path, as getting a PhD is nearly synonymous with deep specialization. However, my dreams of being a specialist probably died when I dropped out of my PhD program. While I haven’t ever regretted that decision I do feel like part of my identity had to change because of it.
Luckily, I recently read a book that helped me see my lack of specialization not as a detriment, but as a benefit. Or, phrased more positively, that there is much to be said for being an effective generalist. In fact, when working in “wicked” environments (as in complex situations, not evil) specialization can actually hold you back and those with a more generalist skill set are more adept at seeing and making the disparate connections that often result in creative solutions. Considering I work in the complex realm of humans and organizations, my generalist tendencies may actually be the better path.
I’ve been familiar with that overall argument for awhile, but until now it always just felt like the kind of excuse a non-specialist would cook up to make themselves feel better. This is the first time I read the argument for generalization and actually felt convinced that a.) it’s a truly good and useful thing to be and b.) that it can be cultivated and refined just as effectively as specialization can. I realize now that I’ve over indexed on the (potentially overly romanticized) belief that deep work and deep specialization are the only, or best, evidence of a life deliberately lived.
The deliberate generalist is a thing. A thing that I’m becoming more and more proud to be.
What Should Have Your Attention
Episode 5 of Fields of Work
Max and I just released the fifth episode of our podcast. It’s the first one where I’m using my new mic and the sound quality is far better than the others. After our usual chit-chat we dive into my origin story a little bit: why I transitioned away from being a teacher and went to graduate school in positive psychology with no real plan for what I was going to do afterward.
A Ribbonfarm Starter Guide
I’ve always really admired Ribbonfarm for being an incredibly well-written, weird, and thought-provoking website. I came to it late, though, and have been intimidated to dig into the archive. This starter guide was remarkably helpful and I’m particularly excited to read through the “Corporations and cultural evolution,” “Experimenting with your sense of self,” “An alternative to MBA-style ‘personal growth’ and self-management,” and “How work and freedom fit together (or don’t),” categories.
Finding chaos and precision in all things — a philosophy of watchmaking
It’s kind of like somebody dove into my brain, extracted a bunch of my beliefs about meaningful work and attention, and then made a very short movie about a man who makes and repairs watches. “It is important how you do things. How you drink tea, how you sit, how you sleep, when you sleep, you eat, what you eat...everything is art. Everything is craft. Everything you do. Even if you just stand on the street that’s craft. Because you are observing, you’re tasing, you are aware. You have an effect on your surroundings. If you practice something, it becomes your life. Whatever you spend your time on, it’s all you have.”
Gosh, these newsletters are getting long. Here’s a few more links that I think are very good, but I’ll go ahead and reserve any extra commentary on them. If you want to talk about them, just hit reply on this email or catch me on Twitter.
Closing Round
Working: This is the last week before my first vacation of the year. Doing my best to make sure I can go into it feeling like I got everything I needed to finish finished and set up my teammates and client for success.
Listening: New obsession, GoGo Penguin, has become a staple in my work music rotation.
Eating: Another heavy podcast advertiser was successful and I’ve been eating my way through Butcher Box. I made BBQ pork ribs in the slow cooker last night. Amazing, obviously.
Watching: Finished the first three episodes of Chernobyl. Hoo boy it’s hard to watch (but good).
Reading: As I mentioned earlier, I read Range and loved it. The Art of Noticing was good and particularly relevant to this newsletter. As was The Supper of the Lamb. Working on Zen Culture now.
Yours in intentionality,
Sam