## Specialization is for Insects##
### ...or, how to be a wide pool with some clusters of depth

One of my favorite authors of all time is, believe it or not, the source for one of my favorite quotes of all time.
It's something of a life motto for me by this point,
and any self-described starter (or any human being, as the quote would suggest)
in danger of being pigeon-holed would do well to check out Robert A. Heinlein's view of specialization:

>A human being should be able to change a diaper,
>plan an invasion,
>butcher a hog,
>conn a ship,
>design a building,
>write a sonnet,
>balance accounts,
>build a wall,
>set a bone,
>comfort the dying,
>take orders,
>give orders,
>cooperate,
>act alone,
>solve equations,
>analyze a new problem,
>pitch manure,
>program a computer,
>cook a tasty meal,
>fight efficiently,
>die gallantly.
>**Specialization is for insects.**

This might be a bit of a species-ist view,
especially considering that [bugs and insects dwarf mammals on this planet in terms of biomass](http://www.si.edu/encyclopedia_si/nmnh/buginfo/bugnos.htm).
But that's neither here nor there. Bugs aren't really known for their exploits in literature or entrepreneurship,
so we might be able to safely assume that they inhabit a different world than us sapiens
(even if we occupy the same planet).
And, of course, the point is not that we, as humans, are supposed to be able to do all of those specific things.
The point that I take from this quote is pretty straighforward:
humans are at the top of the food chain because we are adaptable.
And we should embrace that adaptability to remain at the top of the food chain.

What, then, makes us adaptable? What allows humans,
of all creatures, to succeed when faster, stronger, meaner, and generally *better* creatures fail?
I think of true adaptability as one part attitude (avoiding fight-or-flight responses,
making clear and well-directed decisions, and analyzing situations dispassionately)
and one part avenues (I'm going for alliteration here, bear with me).

What I mean by avenues: when presented with an obstacle, what options do you have to change course?
Each of the skills and experiences outlined by Mr. Heinlein above are potential avenues to take in the face of adversity.
Maybe knowing how to pitch manure won't help you avoid a hostile takeover of your company,
but you never *really* know when these experiences can be drawn upon to make you more adaptable, more capable, or more "well-rounded".
It's a similar reason why everyone's a better driver than teenagers:
besides knowing what to look for to avoid danger, adults have experienced
more of the alternatives and mastered more of the skills of driving that allow them to
adapt to the variety of situations that inevitably call for a correction from the current course.

This idea of anti-specialization is especially important for the self-starter,
for three reasons:

+ First, starters usually don't have a team of experts to call upon, or a team to delegate to (at least on the first go-round of an idea). That's ok, but you need to be able to wear lots of hats/conn lots of ships.
+ Second, starters need to be more adaptable than your average bear and/or human. You don't *really* know what's going to happen, even if you say you do, and that's ok, as long as you have a breadth of experience to draw upon that gives you some wiggle room.
+ And Third, the coolest things always happen at the interface. Most disasters also happen at the interface,too, but that's a discussion for another time.

The first two points are pretty well-trodden, although I'm tempted to trod them anyway in later posts.
You probably haven't thought about interfaces very much, though, other than as a pain point.
If you want to start something new, you need to change that attitude.
Specialization is for insects and some surgical sub-specialties.
It's great for certain types of manufacturing or office jobs (until the standards change).
Specialization fails, though, when it pigeon-holes someone.
When that person has given up on learning to be useful in ways that might be outside of a job description.
And worse than failing, it causes so many great interactions of seemingly disparate ideas to remain underground or underused.

In my own life, who would have thought that learning about statistics would give me a background
that would lead to analyzing the effectiveness of workout plans at my own gym,
or that playing in a high school punk band would give me my first real taste of organization leadership,
or that coaching athletes twice my age would give me the confidence to coach software developers
with more experience programming than I have walking on the art and science of teaching novice developers.
All of these opportunities only came about because of the breadth of my experiences,
and anything great that I do in the future will be at the intersection of two areas of
expertise that others hadn't thought to combine.

The same is probably true of your own ventures. So your challenge for today:
learn a skill out of left field that has nothing to do with your "career path"
(if you have one). Once completed, feel free to find the nearest acre of land and
gloat at the [400 million insects that likely occupy it](http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/insects-are-a-weighty-matter/).

Good luck!