This is going to be a long one. I can write a book on this, actually. Let’s get right in!
IT IS EASY TO CRITICIZE SOMETHING YOU ARE NOT PART OF
People hate what they don’t know. Once you have no responsibility whatsoever pertaining to some inner workings and only a recipient of its privileges, it is easy to criticize it. In simple English, a child – has never been a parent before and benefits from the parents – who criticizes his/her parents is very likely to be criticizing things he/she does not understand. He/She will only realize that things are much more complicated than it looks when he/she becomes a parent. When you’re outside something, it is easy to criticize it. The solutions seem clear. We state some over-simplified solutions to their unending problems and we think that is it. That’s not it. The real question is whether you’re going to make the same decisions being made if you were in their shoes.
We criticize politicians till we enter into politics and realise it’s no joke. It’s an actual battlefield of countless problems. Someone says they are depressed and you think they should get up and do something. You think the person doesn’t know that? You don’t understand why people divorce because to you, marriage is a simple lifestyle. Dude, are you even married? Nothing is as easy as it looks. So before you criticize, realize where you stand. You might be criticizing something you have zero experience of.
TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, REALIZE THAT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW
Ideas are insights, and these insights come from information. If you know nothing about thermodynamics, you’re probably not going to have any ideas about it. Even if you do, those ideas will be so dumb. Have you met someone who gives dumb ideas? It’s because they lack enough information about the subject matter. Board members sit in their comfortable conference rooms and assume they know what is happening on the ground.
No wonder we criticize our leaders. The reality is, they think they are doing so well. The statistics say so. They don’t know what they don’t know. If you want to think outside the box, look for information in the weirdest places. Inside the carcasses of archaeology are hidden treasures. If our leaders were to step outside their comfortable box and ask the layman whom they think knows nothing, they would find the solution and throw all their dumb ideas in the garbage. This leads me to another important lesson I learnt;
A JACK OF MANY TRADES IS A MASTER OF NONE, BUT OFTENTIMES BETTER THAN A MASTER OF ONE
In ancient civilizations, anyone in a particular field was an “expert” in all its facets. The medical doctor was a veterinarian, surgeon, nurse, optician, neurologist, herbalist, scientist and everything pertaining to medicine. The ancient architect was a technical expert, engineer, painter, sculptor, carpenter, plumber and basically a builder of everything. This was the case because so much was still unknown, thus no need for specialization. As the world advanced and research brought light to many fields, you would find an architect today who specializes in only building documentation. However, we all know that history repeats itself.
The world really revolves, and we are moving back into the era of mastering more than just one thing. It’s basic to be a musician. How about a mathematician who is into music? Now, that’s the birth of something out of the ordinary. Be a jack of all trades. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. All industries in the world today are more interested in what you do on the side. Technology is making the weirdest of combinations; a wrist watch that can send texts, a car that can fly, a washing machine that can dry clean, a fridge that can send pictures etc. The same is expected of us humans. We need smart people for all these smart things. Soldiers with medical degrees. Lawyers with software skills. Architects with coding skills. Software engineers with drawing skills. Doctors with a good sense of humor. The world is looking for people with the weirdest combination of trades because such people bring something different and out-of-the-box. This leads me to the next point;
THE GREATEST SKILL YOU CAN EVER LEARN IS THE SKILL OF ADAPTABILITY
Adaptability is a skill every species has developed to ensure its survival. One thing is for sure in this world; life is unpredictable. It is truer today than ever. The world has never had 1 billion people alive until about a 100 years ago. Today, we are 7 billion. It took just 11 years to move from 6 billion to 7 billion, when it actually took us about 250,000 years to get to 1 billion. This is how fast the world is moving. The school system will never really catch up. Whatever you muster today will be archaic in a few years to come. This is not a bad thing if you have this skill. With this skill, you will always stay relevant like Daniel.
Daniel was 3rd in command in the empire of Babylon & Persia, no matter who the king was. It is more than just going with the flow. It is having the willingness to learn what you don’t know and unlearn what you already know. A good example is how CAD replaced hand drafting. Those who lack this skill fall into a ditch though they may have been at the apex when hand drafting skills peaked. Today, BIM is here. What are you mustering at the moment? Don’t be left behind
This has been a great oversimplification of what I’ve learnt all my life up to this point. Like, share and let me know your comments about what this year has taught you. I love you ❤