Find Something To Learn

I was going to begin this post with a question, which was going to be: Would you like to be considered an expert in your field?

Then I changed my mind. Instead, I’m going to ask you this:

Do you even HAVE a “field” in which you might like to be considered an expert?

Before you can be an expert at something, you need to know what that something is. So the first step is to determine what field you’d like to be involved with. I especially want to emphasize the broad generic word “field”, rather than a narrow, specific title.

You see, the average person is perfectly capable of becoming an expert merely by engulfing themselves in the subject matter.

There are some limitations to this, however. For example, let’s say you decide to answer the above question too narrowly. You might say, for instance, that you want to be an expert saxophonist. There’s nothing wrong with having that as a goal, unless of course you have no musical talent whatsoever. Talent does play a part in our decision process. That doesn’t mean however, that you can’t extend the concept from a narrow one (saxophonist) to a broader one. What if you became the leading authority on the lives of the most talented saxophonists of all time? Or what if you were known as the expert in tracking the still unknown, but extremely talented saxophone artists of our time?

That’s the kind of thing I’d like to challenge you to think about. So many people have interests, but believe that they cannot pursue an education or a career within that interest, because their talents don’t extend far enough. I say baloney.

1. Consider the broad topics that interest you.
2. Determine your ability to become an expert of some part of that topic. Don’t limit yourself to the obvious aspects of the topic. Think as broadly as necessary – or as outside of the box as you can – to find a portion of the entire “field” in which you can contribute.
3. Once you’ve determined what your “field of expertise” will be, simply learn it.

Don’t run away screaming! Learning it is probably a lot less difficult than you imagine. The Internet gives each of us vast resources to pull from. You can get a free education from MIT, Berkeley, John Hopkins, Stanford, or any number of amazing universities around the world if you’d like. A formal atmosphere such a a university course may not be what’s needed at all, however. You may just need to immerse yourself in the many blogs, podcasts, videos, or articles that abound on the web. Whatever paths you take, if you spend an hour per day reading about the topic, you’ll be amazed at how much you learn. Once you’re sure that you really want to become the expert, then just immerse yourself in the topic. Participate in social networks or forums. Find mentors. Communicate with those who are involved. Become a part of the field.

Sure it will take some time. It won’t be instant. But think about this: Two years from now, you may wake up to see your name in an important journal or site that proclaims you to be the expert in the field of [you fill in the blank]. How cool would that be?

Tags: expert saxophonist, John Hopkins, MIT, saxophonist, social networks, Stanford


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