I'm sure you've heard of the 10,000 hour rule, a common assumption that 10,000 hours of practice of a certain activity makes you an expert in it. Because of this ‘rule,’ many parents push their children to focus on one sport, instrument, or other activity in the hopes that they become specialized at that skill. Take a moment and think about if you have worked on a single skill or passion the majority of your life, or if you have dabbled in multiple different things. In modern society, all we tend to hear about are the specialists, people who focus on one main field for a large portion of their life in order to become highly skilled in that subject. We hear stories of the supposed geniuses and child prodigies, the miracle success stories. However the most successful people are the generalists (according to the book Range by David Epstein, people who test out multiple different skills and hobbies in their life. This makes us question whether the theory that specialists are more successful is true or if it is just a common misconception.

A specialist is a person who focuses primarily on a particular subject or activity and in turn becomes highly skilled in that specific and restricted field. While being a specialist is admirable because it means you are an expert in your field, that means you have not many well-developed side abilities. Because specialists know what they are good at and are skilled at what they do, they tend to find it easier to get a job. The The issue with being a specialist is that one becomes so focused on a certain skill that they don’t take time to develop other strengths. If the market for that job specialty becomes obsolete, they are left with few alternate job opportunities resulting in a small success margin.

Generalists are people that are competent in several different subjects, activities, or fields. In the long run, they are more likely to succeed because they have a wide variety of experiences that allow them to adapt well to different job opportunities. By sampling different activities, they are more likely to make connections between those activities to help them excel in whatever situation they are in. On top of this their ability to try different things makes them more open to different possibilities in life.  Their exposure also allows them to connect with other people more easily because they're more likely to have a shared interest or story with one another. The main problem with being a generalist is that they aren't extremely excelled in one subject. 

In the case of Steve Jobs, generalism is key. He shared in his 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford University that in college he had decided to take a calligraphy class. He had dropped out of the regular classes and had seen beautifully hand calligraphed posters all around the campus. He was fascinated by the variety of styles that make typography great. “None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.” (Jobs, Steve). Our digitally-controlled world wouldn’t be close to the same as it is now without that one class that he decided to take on a whim. I’m writing this paper in Times New Roman 12pt font but I have the opportunity to write in thousands of different fonts to best express myself thanks to his detour. He closed that subject by saying, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” In other words, the experiences you have in life may lead you to places you wouldn’t expect, but looking back on life it all makes sense. This is the essence of generalism. 

The problem that arises with being a specialist versus a generalist is the lack of diversity in other subjects. In the case of doctors, this becomes a huge, but overlooked, problem. Epstein wrote about a common occurrence in hospitals and doctor’s offices. He found that since doctors tend to have common diagnoses that they saw, they are quick to misdiagnose a patient. The familiarity of those cases makes it very easy for them to diagnose a patient without a significant amount of thought even if the patient doesn’t show all signs of that diagnosis. Nurses on the other hand aren’t as specialized in the areas that the doctors are, they are more generalists because their education consists of a variety of different things from across the medical board. This means that they are more likely to question their diagnoses because they are aware that they aren’t as specialized in that field. In the long run, this process of further questioning your decision and comparing it to other possible diagnoses means a smaller margin of error. Generalists gain a more varied knowledge which allows them to make connections and problem-solve. 

A prime example of extreme specialists are the Polgar sisters. Laszlo Polgar, a Hungarian psychologist and teacher decided to conduct an experiment with the help of his wife: an experiment that would take 18 years and 3 children who would be their studies. Laszlo and his wife Klara were determined to create world-famous child prodigies. “Laszlo thought the public school system could be relied upon to produce mediocre minds. In contrast, he believed he could turn any healthy child into a prodigy.” (Flora, Carlin). When his first-born daughter Susan was four, she showed an interest in chess. Within six months, Laszlo brought his pudgy toddler to a smokey chess club where she beat every single opponent. He realized that they had found her future. He spent hours everyday coaching Susan, while his two daughters Judit and Sofia watched, learning the thousands of patterns until they too were masters. “My father believes that innate talent is nothing, that [success] is 99 percent hard work,” Susan says. “I agree with him.” (Flora, Carlin). In 1986 at age 16, Susan qualified to compete in the Men’s World Championship as the first ever woman to participate. She went on to be the third woman ever to be awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE and became the Women’s World Champion for three years straight. The point of this story was to explain that while extreme specialists can reach success, it is just much more common to find successful generalists versus specialists. 

In my opinion, being a generalist is much more reliable and makes success easier to achieve. Some may argue that not being highly specialized in one field means that you can never go past a certain point in your field of choice because you don't have the full extent of skills needed to fully succeed. On the contrary, being skilled in multiple different things can lead to success almost more so than focusing on just that one thing. This is because your brain is set up to make connections between the different skills and problem-solve, benefitting the way you think and work. 

Overall, when we think of the American dream we think of the success stories that we hear on the news. The extreme specialists that found their niche and maximized its potential success. Sadly, that isn’t as achievable for everyone which is why balancing your skills helps you to better achieve your American Dream. In our modern world, we have to think differently, we have to think with more range. “As technology spins the world into vaster webs of interconnected systems in which each individual only sees a small part ... [we need more] people who start broad and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives while they progress. People with range.” (Epstein, David).