Tag: experience

Going wide or going deep

I recently wrote about being a specialist instead of a generalist, and this post delves deeper into that thought. When I was listening to Dave Ramsey’s “The Legacy Journey,” he discussed how he and his wife, Sharon, decided to give to charity. There is no right or wrong way to give to others. I believe that and so does he. But he made a good point, saying if they had one million dollars to give, would their money be more effective giving one dollar to one million charities (essentially, “going wide”) or giving one million dollars to one charity (“going deep”)?

If you “go deep,” your impact is likely to be far greater/more meaningful than if you “go wide.” Again, this is not meant to make it sound like going wide is wrong, per say. In the example above, donating that much money (or any amount of money, time, and energy) is a very noble thing to do. It just depends on what you feel is best. If you have multiple charities that you’d like to give to, by all means, go for it. But if you want them to reach their goals faster, you may have to limit where your resources are going.

So how does this relate to the generalist or the specialist? Well, the generalist is essentially going wide. They may have a little bit of knowledge or experience in a lot of different areas. This is a good thing! It’s almost always a good thing to have more experience and to be well-rounded. You can often connect better with others because you have more to talk about. But if you need an expert or have a specific task that needs to be accomplished? Then the specialist is probably your best bet.

You may have a lot of knowledge in many different areas, but if you don’t have a deep understanding of how to build a rocket (or specific parts for a rocket), you probably won’t be much help to the engineering division of a company like SpaceX. This is why it’s not right or wrong to be a generalist or specialist, to go wide or to go far. It is all situation-dependent and up for you to decide what you want to be or do.

SpaceX rocket being launched

Earning confidence

When you work hard for something, when you earn it, it means something. You’ll appreciate your reward more because you understand the effort required to obtain it. You’ll have more confidence in your ability to overcome obstacles, because you’ve already faced those obstacles and defeated them. Having earned confidence, but still being humble about it, is an attractive quality that will lead to more business down the road.

So what do you do when you’re just starting out in a new field and have no experience? How can you transition from a stage of naive confidence to one of earned confidence? I break it down into five tips below.

1. Beware that you don’t compensate for a lack of earned confidence with too much false bravado.

You should be confident in your abilities and be decisive with your actions, but don’t act as if you know everything. People will either see through you or they’ll believe what you say and end up resenting you if you steer them in the wrong direction (because you presented yourself as the “expert” and they misplaced their trust in you).

2. Ask (better) questions.

It’s ok to ask questions to clarify what your customers are asking. If you assume they’re asking about A, but really they’re wondering about B, you’re not doing them any favors by answering something that is irrelevant. And if you assume the meaning behind their question incorrectly too many times, you’ll probably frustrate them and make them look elsewhere for answers.

3. Be ok with saying, “I don’t know.”

It’s ok to tell someone, “that’s a great question. Let me find out and get back to you.” If you present information as fact and it turns out to be wrong, you lose credibility and trust with those you are dealing with – negating any chance to create a repeat customer or a raving fan who would refer others to you.

We do things when we are naive not because we are trying to be reckless, but because we either are trying to prove to someone that we are an expert in our field, that they made the right decision by trusting us, or because we think something is true (even though we don’t actually know). Often, our ego gets in the way. We think the other person may think less of us if we don’t know the answer so we make one up. STOP DOING THAT! You don’t know what you don’t know and that’s ok, as long as you can recognize and admit it. Others will respect you more if you’re honest with them and then work quickly to get them the correct information.

4. Find a mentor

Find an honest, reputable mentor (or willing and able teammate) in your field and rely on them when you’re unsure of something. Even if you‘re pretty sure you are correct, it’s not a bad idea to bounce an idea off of someone who is willing to help and wants to see you achieve success. Just be sure to take notes and be cognizant of their time. Don’t ask the same questions over and over again. Not much will make a mentor want to stop working with you more than if you take up their valuable time by asking questions they’ve already answered.

5. Become obsessed

To have more earned confidence, you need more experience. You can let the experience come to you or you can go get it.

Grant Cardone wrote a book called Be Obsessed or Be Average. I’m not the biggest Cardone fan, but he makes a lot of good points. If you want to be an expert, if you want to earn confidence in a specific field, you need to live, eat, breath, and sleep it. Expect your results to reflect your effort.

Malcolm Gladwell discusses a similar idea with the 10,000 hour rule, saying that anyone can become an expert at something in 10,000 hours. It’s up to you to determine how long it takes to get to the 10,000 hours. Do you want to do it in five years or two and a half? If you want to master your profession quickly, you need to become obsessed with it.

I hope these five tips will be helpful for you today. But remember, you will always have more to learn. Don’t be afraid of the unknowns. The more truths you can uncover, the better positioned you will be as an expert in your field.