I wonder what it says about a person who when playing with assorted Lego pieces, they try to make sure that the colors match. Is it an obsessive compulsive thing, or is it a creative thing? Perhaps it could be both together, or maybe neither, or either - but depending on the person, there might be something that could be inferred from their behavior, if cross-referenced with other traits to build a cluster.
This is what I was thinkin about when Smallsteps we playing at a shopping center activity display.
She didn't care about the colors she was using, but it has always driven me a little crazy since childhood when I wasn't able to have enough of one color to make a design uniform. I would often disassemble and find another way to do it, so that the colors would be uniform.
I don't think I have OCD.
I don't even have good attention to detail.
I am one of those MVP creators, not the most valuable player, but someone who can put together a minimum viable product quickly, and then let others pore over the details and flesh it out. There is value in both aspects, but details are meaningless without frameworks to hang them on, so there is a process required.
A lot of my work however is in the details, which might not be the best fit for my personality, but gives me an opportunity to build skills in other areas. Though with this, I also wonder where is the line between the value of focusing on what we are good at and diversifying our skills into other areas.
For instance, most jobs these days are not specialized in the same sense as they were, as there are far more tasks involved that might lay outside of the specialty itself. Even something like a manager has to do a range of tasks that forty years ago had a team of people performing them, whether that be admin or forecasting work. Now, a lot of these things have been combined, even if they aren't the strength of the person, but they still have to be met at a "passing grade" for the position.
This widens, but dilutes the skill base and has an opportunity cost on high skill areas. For an illustration of this, it is like an office worker who decides to do their own renovations. They go onto YouTube and learn how to do things and even though they get it done, it takes longer and still probably at a lower quality to a professional tradesperson. But, it might be cheaper, as long as nothing goes wrong in the process - which it often does.
So, what is the balance between developing new skills and honing the skills we have, the ones that provide the majority of our value? We are encouraged to skill diversify, but is that really the best option, or is it a middle-path solution, trying to play it safe?
This is something I have to consider in terms of the skill development opportunities for my daughter, as it is very difficult to predict what will be necessary and, what will be in demand. One of the things that I consider as important are core parts of personality growth traits, like the ability and willingness to learn, as well as emotional stability and resiliency to overcome challenge. There are other skills like interpersonal and collaborative skills, as well as situational awareness aspects that can be developed also.
What I do predict is that in the future, whatever the skills needs are, there is going to be a lowering of people who are able to do the harder to possess skills, because the culture is about ease of uptake now, where "easy to obtain" is the target, even if it isn't something that is tradeable.
Tradability is important, because if we don't having something to trade for whatever we need to live, we are going to struggle heavily. Obviously, it is easy to look at skills trades like plumbing and electrical to earn money, but there are other things that bring us value too. For instance, social interaction and companionship. If all we have to trade is sex, we aren't likely going to end up building those deep connections we value and consider make a good life. But, if we are emotionally volatile and unable to negotiate and compromise, we are also unlikely to build connections.
Life is a bit like all of those Lego blocks in the picture, it is what we make of it. There is no clear plan on what is right or wrong, but there are frameworks we can use as guides to build upon. Sometimes, we might want to dive into and develop the details, but things don't always go to plan, the conditions change, colors don't match, so we have to shift our approach.
At the end of the day, whatever we build will eventually be taken to pieces and returned to the universe, but the plans we leave can create the frameworks for those that come to build faster, better, stronger - and make the best of what they have, creating lives they value.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]