Being a “wide achiever” challenges set notions associated with professional success. Who is a wide achiever? The answer is the one who juggles between various jobs – not because he is not exceptionally good at one particular vocation but because he believes that being a specialist is not the only way in which one can do justice to his talents. Heart surgeons, electronic media journalists, choreographers, and so on… we have specialists who have etched their niche with dogged pursuit of their dreams. The division of labor is a concept that has survived since the Industrial Revolution.
What is a wide achievement, and what should you learn about it?
Wide achievement doesn’t seek to subvert the age-old pursuit of the “epiphany” itself. Let us see how it has worked for most of us. More than the initial 20 – 25 years of our lives (in most cases) are spent deciphering our strengths and, eventually, our respective fortes. The epiphany is followed by a skill-specific job hunt or our search for further avenues to excel (for example, vocational courses).
Talking of wide achievement, one of the most distinguished names that come to mind is Roman Krznaric, who is a college professor, journalist, community worker, carpenter, and tennis coach at the same time. What more? He is also the founder of The School of Life, a cultural enterprise that conducts classes on subjects like “How to Make Love Last” and “How to be Confident,” among others.
What does he have to say about wide achievement?
Despite having such a diverse CV, he regrets hanging on to a job for a long time even when he didn’t enjoy it. He is clearly of the opinion that even if many of us are busy “finding” vocations, they are not something to be found but experienced along the way! He opines that one should do it first and reflect later.
It can be said that the concept of wide achievement is not entirely unheard of or new. Even if we don’t realize the same, inspiration has existed since the Renaissance. Think about Leon Battista Alberti, an artist, author, poet, linguist, artist, musician, philosopher, and cryptographer at the same time.
The modern concept of a portfolio worker has been derived from Karl Marx’s ideal of the “part-time worker,” which refers to the need to juggle several careers together, not to confine prospects.
If you think closely, there is no shortage of wide achievers either. How frequently do you come across friends or colleagues who opt for entirely different lines of work, even if that initially means a slight compromise of the desired package? There is no shortage of examples as well.
Ensure you are acquainting more about wide achievement to explore its prospects. Hopefully, this particular primer has guided you duly in this regard.
