Circle of Competence: Avoid Ambiguity Traps
I have to say I find the way of thinking presented in this article to be wrong in a fundamental way.<p>I realize that this is (more or less) how we&#x27;re all brought up to think about our place in the world, but I have come to see it as a very destructive way of self-development.<p>&gt; The idea behind this model is to focus on your strengths that you are either born with or something you have developed over the years instead of investing time and resources on trying to do anything and everything for the sake of it.<p>Why should my life be centered on the &#x27;thing I&#x27;m good at&#x27;? What does that even mean? Is it the thing I like to do and that makes me happy, or the thing that can bring me money? Since the common understanding (I think) points more towards the latter interpretation, is this a desirable way to live your life, or to expect others to live their lives? Should we all be efficient production machines where our efficiency is dictated by whatever the economic needs of the moment are?<p>&gt; Focussing [sic] on your strengths does not imply that you need to avoid exploring other areas, but it is rather about not letting those other areas take away too much time and resources that could be better utilised on your strengths.<p>How does such self-optimization relate to the aspiration of living a free life?<p>&gt; Focussing [sic] will help you accumulate experience and knowledge in a particular domain giving you an almost unfair advantage over others who are much more scattered in their approach in the field.<p>Why should you aim to have an unfair advantage over anybody? More so, what happens if industry trends shift and it turns out you specialized on the &#x27;wrong&#x27; thing (e.g. you&#x27;re the best mainframe programmer, but the PC revolution has come)?