Reddit reviews Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

Please do yourself a favor and read this book. I guarantee it will change your perspective about being a generalist.

https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=range&qid=1564934069&s=gateway&sr=8-2

This is one of the most positively influential videos I've ever personally watched. Hope you enjoy it too!

A summary might be:

>If you do not know the steps to your goal with high confidence, then do the following:
>
>You can imagine that you're looking at a map, and your distant goal is somewhere on the map, but the map is blurry / not yet revealed all the way to your distant goal
>
>So then identify what options you *do* know the steps to (the ones that _are_ visible on the map), and then pick the option from those that is most novel
>
>This is because the more novel it is, the more likely it is to reveal large and unexpected portions of the map, potentially including the part that gives you a visible path to your distant goal
>
>So when uncertain, identify the most novel thing you know how to do/achieve, and repeat that, and that's likely the best (albeit very roundabout!) route for getting to your distant not-yet-visible-path goal.

Other things along the same lines:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/03/opinion/how-to-cultivate-the-art-of-serendipity.html
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Obliquity-Goals-Best-Achieved-Indirectly/dp/0143120557
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484

Good question! And I want to make sure first that I don't undervalue luck. There are people who've worked 5x as hard and not gotten the breakthrough I've been lucky to get. I worked incredibly hard, but that's not enough in itself.

• Fortunate for the 10-year bull market right as I began investing out of college
  
• Oddly enough, fortunate to have grown up in a relatively poor family, both because it taught me frugality and because it meant financial aid covered virtually my entire college tuition. Starting off my career investing extra money instead of having to pay off student loan debt was incredibly lucky and unusual.
  
• I overwork (like most of us here, I presume) but hoping to cut that back now that I no longer feel the FI pressure to
  
• I've always been a curious person, and have grown up as much more a generalist than a specialist. I know a lot about a ton of subjects, but not that much about any one subject. It's generally served me well, and I subscribe to the David Epstein school of thought (https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484)

30 year old male here. I was fired from my tech job two months ago. It stings at first, but it opened me up to a new job in a part of the country I like more, on a better team, in a much cooler living situation, which also pays more and is closer to where I grew up. So not only was my career not affected negatively from being fired, it actually made a vertical leap in so many ways!

Oftentimes, being fired can be the best thing to ever happen to you. If you don't believe me, google "getting fired was the best thing to ever happen to me". You will find examples ranging from celebrities to averages joes who's lives were dramatically improved after they got the pink slip. And believe me, there are A LOT of examples.

So yes, I can relate very much. But use this time to do some self-reflection; you left a "boring office job and live in one of the most expensive cities in the United States". Maybe leaving a boring office job WAS a blessing in disguise. Maybe you don't HAVE to live in New York City. Maybe you could move somewhere cheaper that you have never been to, do whatever job sounds interesting, do a comedy/acting channel on YouTube and generate your own audience? People have made a really good living doing things like that, and experimenting early in life leads to a huge sense of personal satisfaction in the long run. A book which is phenomenal about this is Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein. You can view the book here
https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484

Even if it does not pay a lot, you are still getting a ton of personal satisfaction from acting, which is a reward in itself.

Best of luck to you!

In addition to 16personalities, I also took tests at personalityhacker.com, truity.com, personalityperfect.com, personalitymax.com, and onlinepersonalitytests.org.

For books, I just started reading Late Bloomers and plan to read Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World and The Comprehensive INFP Survival Guide next.

I also find the blog posts at Introvert Dear and Psychology Junkie very helpful.

EDIT: fixed some of the links

May not be totally related but I am reading this book recently and I felt it would be a good read for the OP:

https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484

Hi,

this is Dr. Brus-Ramer, president of Elite Medical Prep. I wanted to add some thoughts and specific pieces of advice.

Your story is really disappointing to hear. One's family is usually their bedrock, especially in really tough moments such as this. The USMLE Step 1 is so much harder than non-medical people can understand. The mental toll is immense.

Here is the specific advice I wanted to add. There is good scientific evidence that would support that your current learning struggle will ultimately be very beneficial to your learning and work as a physician, and possibly show up positively on your Step 1 performance. Recently I began listening to the audiobook, 'Range' by David Epstein which lays out the thesis that early struggles in learning can lead to far better and more durable learning and stronger outcomes later on. One of the key pieces of evidence is the work by the UCLA researcher Robert Bjork, who seems to have coined the term 'desirable difficulties' in the context of improved learning and skill development, acquisition and application.

Right now you are struggling and your family is not particularly helpful at this moment. However, if you can take a step back and see this struggle as something that can make you stronger and more mentally durable, you may come out on the other side with far better performance than you have had so far. If you are looking for more motivation or sources for inner strength at this tough moment, I would also suggest reading/audio booking 'Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds' by David Goggins. This is one of the most powerful autobiographies I have ever read, and it has a self-help component built into the audiobook version that is totally awesome and zero BS.

Hope this helps. Best of luck with your journey.

It helps a lot to know your path, but have her read this book:

https://smile.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484

Talks a lot about career hoppers and people that ended up in great spots despite bouncing around.

With all that said, I do think a more direct path makes for a much easier life.