There is another reason you want to learn as many skills as you can: in today’s competitive environment, with eight billion people, it is hard to stand out. And if you don’t stand out then you are competing with everyone… and that, my friend, is not a good thing, unless you are satisfied with crumbs.
“Success isn’t about being perceived as the best at what you do. It’s about being perceived as the only one who does what you do.”
Now, that is a tall order, when there are eight billion people on the planet… and many of them are probably smarter than you are… And yet you want to get as close to that idea, being the only one who does what you do, as close you can….
So how is that possible? By coloring over the lines… not inside.
We are all trained as kids to color within the lines… But…
Everyone can have one thing they do well. Many people do two things well. Some people do three or more things well. Most people don’t do anything well.
Only a few people think of combining what they do well into a unique skill-set. They have the mindset of either/or… doing either one or the other.
I listened to a rapper yesterday in the community van. He is also a good singer. I decided to look him up… because he has a unique skill set.
Eminem combines three skills: rapper, writer, and amazing persuader. Without this third skill he would be just an ‘also ran.’
I have clients who dream of making it to the top of ANYTHING… lol
One of MY jobs is to find their superpower.
What is a superpower? It is a talent. A unique talent the person feels are so natural that it doesn’t feel like a talent, and therefore they don’t feel it needs to be mentioned.
You think you know yourself accurately, but nothing is further from the truth. You don’t… at least not accurately.
But the biggest issue is: you discount some superpower abilities, because, by themselves, they can’t make money.
What you are missing is what is called, in nature, the edge effect.
The richest, most diverse areas of life on the planet are at the overlap of lake, forest and meadow.
The analogy applied to human life is: you can make yourself unique and a success, largely, only at the intersection of several skills. If you look up any of the big names: they are all polymaths… or at least eclectic. Several different areas of knowledge… edge effect.
- One of my students is a bookkeeper/accountant. A garden variety profession… people are looking for a cheap accountant. He, at present, can only compete on price.
Turns out: he is an idea machine. He is doing his BecomeAnIdeaMachine at my suggestion: coming up with a list of ten ideas, following the themes from the book I have mentioned before, Become an idea machine.
He is, also at my suggestion, is learning on how to become a business growth consultant.
We’ll see how to combine these skills into a profession, so that he can become the go-to person…
He is creative where most people aren’t… including me. While I can come up with two-three ideas about a topic, he is brimming with them, and they are spectacular.
Most people are like me: few or no ideas… lol… not funny. Hiring him could mean the difference between a stagnant boring life or business, and a life/business full of growth and riches…
- I have another client/student who hasn’t been willing to use his superpower: being able to look at life backwards. He keeps wanting to look forward, but looking forward allows him to see only 10% of what there is to see.
Some societal tabu is preventing him to see how his ability would make him the biggest winner in his field of expertise.
Laziness? Shyness? Stupidity? Stinginess? You decide what you allow to hold you back from becoming a winner in life.
And just know that the Edge Effect is available for you too…
PS: This, the Edge Effect, also applies to products… Your services are a product too. Be a one-track pony… and you’ll be a loser in the fierce competition… But if you can combine ideas in an unusual way, you can win.
One dude, a marketer, sold his course this way. The Swedish Scientist, 10 Violinists and a Guinea Pig, blah blah blah… combining science with fairy tale, he sold his course out. Instead of the usual: buy my course… he created curiosity. And won. Stood out.
Here is his email that was based on the edge effect: This one small change discovered by a Swedish scientist with the help of 10 violinists and a guinea pig is the missing link for getting you where you want to be by the end of this year.
I can’t believe I didn’t figure this out. At least I can update you now. It’s so important I’m going to do a live presentation for you this Thursday – It’s so important – i’ll do two live sessions for all the timezones!
Register here now and I’ll email you out all the details.
Ed
That is, also, edge effect.
PS: Tomorrow, May 20, Wednesday at 4 pm, EDT, we are doing a workshop where we are going to do an exercise to create a purpose for your life. Once you have a purpose, it will make a whole lot more sense to learn a skill and create an edge effect for your work, for your life. Without a purpose it will make much less sense: you will have no guidance… Guidance is mandatory.
Go to the next page to register in the webinar. It’s free. I prefer people who have had their Starting Point MeasurementsStarting Point Measurements done… because I have a sense of who they are…
Register in the webinar
