New/Different experiences afford you a multidimensional perspective. When others admire you for your ability to do certain things well (e.g. you’re good at many sports), there is a tendency for you to get carried away if you are not careful. Many people in their workplaces have earned themselves recognition and respect for their expertise in their areas of specialisation.
But what about those things you don’t know how to do well?
True, some schools of thought today emphasise that people focus on improving on their strengths. There is however the possibility of negative returns setting in, if weaknesses or inadequacies are not checked before they get out of control – which does happen.
Robert Kiyosaki speaks about the need for people to be less of "specialists" and more of "generalists" if they want to live successfully in today’s world. An article I downloaded from Michael Angier’s Successnet.org encourages the reader to “Know a little about everything”.
The trouble is that oftentimes people fail to realise they need to get to know other areas of work/life outside those they are already familiar with (i.e. their “comfort zones”).
Ironically, doing this is often to their advantage, since they better understand how others do their work, the problems they face etc.
Now you might wonder why I suggest that you get to know about other people’s jobs and work-related problems.
It’s simple really. How would you feel if someone outside your area of specialisation engages you in conversation and displays – among other things – a sound understanding of your job – especially the constraints you face in doing it daily?
I know I would feel drawn to such a person – because it would mean she has taken time to study and understand the kind of work I do! So if or when we have to work together, it would be easier to explain aspects of my work to her (call her Ms X).
In fact, if I subsequently run into another non-specialist who does not “understand”, I am likely to invite Ms X to help me explain in non-technical jargon! By implication, if a person wants to do her job better, and be better appreciated by colleagues she needs to deliberately seek new and/or different experiences.
One way to do this as illustrated earlier is to consciously embark on a progressive (informal) understudying of other departments she has to interact with in doing her work.
If she is tactful in going about it, colleagues in those offices would be flattered by her attention, and interest, and readily put her through on whatever she wishes to know.
Final Words
Ultimately, what would happen is that Ms X would have an insider’s perspective of issues in each department she has to relate with, when doing her own work.
Many times this will enable her become more efficient in interacting with such departments to get information etc for her work. It could also prevent her from crying “wolf”, for instance, when there is none – saving her considerable embarrassment!
Perpetually seeking new or different experiences will afford you a multidimensional perspective of issues at work and/or in life. It will also equip you to attract plenty of goodwill, and make you a more interesting person to be with. At some point, all of that will translate into tangible success in many forms, for you.