Never stop learning

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I often compare the challenges of my life to the challenges my dad faced at the same age. They seem to be vastly different, but I'm sure he did not find his challenges easier at the time. We all have to learn new things and grow to the place where we have those new things under control. And while things are unfamiliar they always seem difficult until you know how to do them.

The big difference, I think, lies in the fact that at some stage my dad was fully in control of the skills required to do his job. In contrast, I am finding it difficult to get to that point. There always seems to be new things to learn and new skills to acquire.

Years ago I read somewhere that in today's job market you need to acquire enough new skills to do a completely new job every four years. Even if you still have the same title on your office door, the skills you need to do the job will have changed. My dad worked at one company his whole career and got a gold watch when he retired. This seems to be a thing of the past. You need to re-invent yourself often and any company by whom you are employed will also be re-invented a number of times. You need to keep growing.

We all know the old saying: 'Jack of all trades, master of none.' Your endeavours to upskill yourself should not be completely random. It is recommended that you focus on a specific area and become an expert in that area. I agree with this but there is a problem with this approach. I recently heard it described this way.

To become an expert, we need to focus on learning more and more about less and less. Before long we will know everything about nothing!

This is a bit tongue-in-cheek but explains the dilemma. I know I cannot know everything about everything. No, seriously, I cannot and neither can you. You have to make some choices.

John Maxwell makes a statement that sounds something like this. I'm quoting from memory.