
The Quest to Be Good at Everything - dshipper
https://superorganizers.substack.com/p/the-quest-to-be-good-at-everything#
======
Roritharr
There is one super power that is rarely mentioned: having been successful
enough that only superficial knowledge and time investment is needed to
leverage a workforce.

If you are the guy that spends 40hours per week diving deep into one specific
topic because your business depends on having someone being an expert on
something to that degree, you won't be able to lead a this well rounded life.

If you are in a Founder position and feel this statement hurts, extract
yourself atleast a day a week from being an employee of your business and
think bigger.

------
rdiddly
Let me guess: This guy is a Libra!

Seriously though, I can contribute one idea, which is to use radar or spider
charts
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_chart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_chart)).
I used to do this kind of thing, tracking 5-10 categories and trying to keep
them all balanced. For feedback I would periodically assess how things were
going in each category and give it a numeric rating, then plot these on a
radar chart. The goal was for the resulting shape to be as close to round as
possible, i.e. literally well-rounded. If the chart is bulging out in a
particular area you've been working hard in, and lagging in another, you could
theoretically take that as the signal to switch focus to the area that needs
work. Also if you saved the charts over time you could compare the chart from
let's say January 2019, against the one from January 2018.

For me personally it ended up making itself obsolete because it made me notice
in a roundabout way that I am, and want to be, one of those people who works
better at one thing at a time (or at least, fewer is better). But it did force
me to do some things that were beneficial that I probably wouldn't have done
otherwise.

~~~
everythingswan
Really helpful addition to the link, thanks for sharing! Even though I was
aware of radar charts, I hadn't linked them for personal use yet and I've been
thinking about how I can look a few different measures in my personal life. I
was coming up empty. Sounds like it would complement interviewee's system
perfectly.

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angarg12
I though this was a piece about how modern society pressures us to be good at
everything, and how we are optimising ourselves to death.

Boy, was I wrong.

~~~
CPLX
I’m not sure you were wrong.

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ganitarashid
After reading about him, I don’t have the impression that he’s particularly
good at anything, rather just average.

~~~
CPLX
I suspect he’s incredibly good at networking and interpersonal relationships.

~~~
ganitarashid
Nothing about him is bad, but also nothing stands out. I didn’t see anything
that was astoundingly good.

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shartshooter
I’ve had a feeling for a while that getting to the 80th percentile in
everything I do should be my goal.

Imagine a person that is the 80th percentile in distance running,
powerlifting, swimming, basketball and Nordic skiing.

That person would be the best all-around athlete you’d likely meet.

The opportunity cost of getting beyond the 80th percentile is so high you
should spend that time getting some other skill up to the 80th.

That may feel like being a _master of none_ but the trade off is that you’re
pretty decent at everything.

I know enough about surfing, politics, world travel, programming and
music(among other things) that I can hold a conversation with anyone even
though I’m not the best at any of them.

This has felt like a huge advantage over people who focus on one thing at the
expense of being more well rounded.

~~~
titanomachy
80th percentile in what population? If you've _been_ nordic skiing, you are
very likely in the 99th percentile of nordic skiing ability out of everyone in
the world.

~~~
shartshooter
Great question...my response wasn’t super clear on that. I’d say 80th
percentile of people who _do_ a given activity. That’s, of course, pretty
vague but this is just a guiding principle for me.

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techer
I’ve learned that unless I’m learning new skills my mind creates issues for
me. Learning to dance, play an instrument, draw, sing — with no desire to
become close to exceptional in any of them has benefited me in ways I couldn’t
imagine. Just 1% better every month (although I don’t track it) in a relaxed
manner, over time, without investing too much time (5 minutes every few days)
is enough to make life fun. In the end all these various “unrelated” skills
tend to link up. YMMV I went to “elite” schools and anything less than 100%
was deemed failure. So wrong.

~~~
blankaccount
I have started walking down this path and I’m finding the same thing. Your
comment was validating.

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bsder
Step 1: Get lucky and win the lottery.

Step 2: Sit in your chair. Your cash reserves now give you access to
opportunities that poor people don't have.

Not a very actionable plan for the rest of us.

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trabant00
An obvious PR piece on the front page?

~~~
ohduran
Worth asking: how does wasting your time on being interviewed for this fits
into this framework?

~~~
codingdave
Box #2 - Invest: "For example, I spend a lot of time thinking about how to
invest in building a reputation in a particular area so that I’m seen as an
expert. "

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caser
Have met Henrik a couple times -- super fascinating, very down to earth guy.

Interesting to get a peek at what goes on behind the curtain.

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piotrkubisa
> NoteToSelf Mail is a little app that I have on my home screen that lets me
> really easily send an email

Oh snap, I haven't thought the AppStore is such saturated platform, where
there is specific app to send an email to myself - why FastMail or Spark won't
be enough to do that? Isn't just two/one less click optimization app?

~~~
lonelappde
The app isn't used because of its functionally, it is used as a psychological
hack.

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alephnan
> He ... has helped started business like ... Managed By Q (acquired by
> WeWork)

I’m wondering if it’s a good time to praise WeWork ties. On Managed by Q’s
website ([https://www.managedbyq.com/](https://www.managedbyq.com/)):

> We Manage, We run, We design, We staff

~~~
codingdave
There are plenty of us who have built products which then got sold to
companies who do not match our ideals. The flaws of our acquirers do not
diminish our work -- we accomplished something by building a product that was
interesting and successful enough that someone wanted to buy it in the first
place.

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hnryjmes
using IFTTT != hacking a Google Home

~~~
garmaine
Hack in the MIT sense.

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paulpauper
this is an advertisement thinly wrapped in some vague advice

~~~
diminoten
What am I buying? Trello?

~~~
gt2
The interview platform/website?

