i'm a generalist

A generalizing specialist has a core competency which they know a lot about. At the same time, they are always learning and have a working knowledge of other areas. While a generalist has roughly the same knowledge of multiple areas, a generalizing specialist has one deep area of expertise and a few shallow ones. We have the option of developing a... See more

A common misconception about generalists is that our broad scope of interests and experiences precludes us from achieving mastery. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. Generalists are capable of going deep; our path to mastery just looks different—more non-linear and richly textured.

For generalists, mastery doesn't mean knowing everything about one thing; it means understanding how to apply knowledge from one area to another in innovative ways.

I’ve come to realize: being a generalist isn’t something we choose. It’s something inherently in our nature — it’s how we see the world. We can think of this approach as a ‘cognitive preference’.