I have a confession to make: I am a generalist.
This truth operates as a confession because I know I live in a culture that educates, values, and demands specialists. The reputation of the generalist has been eroding since the 19th century. We're called dilettantes and flakes. We're antiquated (when's the last time you read a call for "Renaissance Person" on a job posting?) We're not experts and therefore not credible. Resume writers don't know what to do with us. Our personal brand is fuzzy.
But hold on a moment, enter Ingrid E. Cummings and the arguments she makes in her new book, The Vigorous Mind: Cross-Train Your Brain to Break Through Mental, Emotional, and Professional Boundaries.
Cummings makes a convincing case for how consistently challenging our minds in new ways and becoming more well-rounded can not only be a cure for the blahs but improve how we perform at our jobs as specialists.
Most of us by midlife hit a period of "flatlining" when we feel burned out, disillusioned or simply just bored out of our minds.
"Is this it?" we ask ourselves as we go about a day that seems so much like yesterday - and the 2,000 days before that.
Cummings suggests that these feelings are largely a result of mental starvation, and that the remedy is cross-training our minds.
Cross-training our brains is a lot like cross-training our bodies - we exercise all different areas of our mind, learning new skills and subject areas we're interested in that are not directly related to our careers (although often we can draw creative connections). This cross-training process leads to our becoming more of a generalist.
But how can we possibly make time to learn Japanese, or learn about the history of Bolivia, or get better at basketball?
The secret is kaizen, a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. Cummings recommends we devote twenty minutes a day, several days a week, week after week, to cross-training activities.
An hour a week sounds like a pretty doable commitment to me.
This book covers a lot of interesting territory, and it would be impossible to summarize all of the juicy ideas here in this review. life@work readers would probably get a lot out of reading the chapter on how generalists can thrive in today's workplace (Hint: get really good at describing your value and your unique point of view and have your finger on the marketing pulse.)
I also especially appreciated the many descriptions of famous figures of the past and present day who are Renaissance people. What fascinating individuals who can't be described in four words or fewer!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, an homage to the liberal arts and validation for systems thinkers. It's an intelligent read that I found both inspiring and practical.
If you're feeling flat, bored, or stuck, I recommend you pick up this book. If you know everything about one thing and nothing about everything else, I recommend you pick up this book. If you've embraced your generalist self and would like to embark on a more disciplined approach to learning more about new things - yep - get the book!
One of my favorite passages:
Resist the too-common American syndrome of striving to make your life easy and carefree. Elsewhere in the world - I'm thinking Europe here - they emphasize making their lives rich and complex, which is really a much more evolved idea.
