Do you want to be an amateur or a professional?

Amateurs do what they want. They do what feels good or right at that particular moment in time. Amateurs don’t get paid. Professionals have a plan and follow it. They practice daily and they get compensated as a result.

Professionals are experts. They know what works and they put the majority of their efforts in the tried and true. Once they’ve mastered that, they’re willing to take calculated risks by branching out to try other ideas. But they don’t do this as it comes to them. Even when they are thinking outside the box, they plan and calculate before taking action. And all the while, they are still repeating the process that helped them become experts in the first place.

So next time you get bored or tired of doing what you know produces results, do it anyways. Follow a plan (or formulate one based on facts if you must) and stick to it. You’ll never gain traction if you keep switching from one idea to the next without rhyme or reason. Don’t be an amateur. Be a professional. Be an expert.

Simplifying complex issues

Most people make simple problems and solutions very complex. Anybody can do that. Experts make the complex problems and solutions simple. They can clearly and concisely explain things in layman‘s terms and don’t have to use fancy words or industry jargon to try to prove their intelligence.

Work on listening more and speaking less. When you speak, do it clearly, concisely, and with confidence. Simplify your answer as much as is required – no more, no less.

A simple tip to lead to success

Have you ever been unsure of what you want to do, of what goals you would like to achieve? Or do you have a vague idea of “what you want” but are overwhelmed when thinking of how to get there? Here’s something you can work on every single day…

Go to bed smarter than you woke up.

Now, having more knowledge/information doesn’t guarantee success. But it is at least a step in the direction towards becoming an expert in your field. Once you have the information, you can act upon it.

So ask yourself when you wake up…What will you learn today? How will you improve your mind, your body, or your relationships in any way? There’s no such thing as equilibrium – just tiny adjustments, up or down/better or worse…will you improve yourself and your knowledge today? Or will you get worse?

Let your body lead (how to artificially produce confidence)

Act confidently to think confidently. This then feeds itself and turns into a never-ending cycle. It’s like the old adage says… Fake it until you make it.

It’s amazing what your body can trick your mind into believing. You can know what you’re talking about, but if you act meek or shy, if you don’t keep good posture, a smile on your face, or walk tall, if you have a limp handshake and don’t look people in the eyes, you’re not inspiring confidence in yourself. People around you see it and you feel it. It’s tough to get out of that cycle. People will be less likely trust you with big decisions, and if you run into the wrong people, they’ll look to take advantage of your lack of confidence.

Meanwhile, if you act confidently, speaking with purpose (loud, but not too loud; crisp; relatively quickly, but not too fast; with energy and enthusiasm, but not so much as to annoy the other person listening), keep your head up, your shoulders pulled back, look people in the eyes, you dress the part, and you genuinely sound like an expert, you’ll see much more success. People will be drawn to you.

Bottom line: act how you want to feel. Your body will lead the way.

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