The Benefits of Wide and Shallow

John Shufeldt is a serial entrepreneur, doctor, pilot and lawyer. He is the founder and CEO of the telemedicine company MeMD.

Chances are that you’ve been told your whole life that focus and depth are major components of being successful. The more you know about one subject matter the more educated and respected you become in your chosen field, right?

While I don’t think that focus and depth of knowledge are a hindrance to success, I’m here to turn that concept on its head, and ask, “What if there is equal value to being wide and shallow? And if so, what is it?”

First, let’s define wide and shallow — and put away any previous connotations you have about either word. I’ve been known to say that I know a little bit about a lot of stuff. That is how I’d describe what a wide and shallow entrepreneurial mindset is.

To further define a wide and shallow, I’d say it’s having a deep enough level of knowledge, to accomplish your goals in a multitude of disparate endeavors. You don’t need to be the smartest person in the country, or even a room, to get a good return on your investments.

Now that we’ve covered what it means to be wide and shallow, let’s talk about some of the benefits.

-I’ve been extraordinarily grateful for the opportunity to return to education, in some form or another, every ten years. My favorite benefit of an increase in knowledge, is being able to gain new perspective. I constantly find that when I’m in school I’m saying to myself, “how did I not know see this opportunity before?”

-When you live shallow and wide you’re really striving for mediocrity. Mediocre may sound negative but I’ve found that if I’m striving for 100% I’m less productive because to move the needle the last 5 or 10% takes as much energy as moving it the first 90%. Thus, if I strive for the 90% confidence interval, I’m covering the most important needs, while letting go of the 10% that isn’t absolutely necessary, and still making a huge impact.

-When you’re living wide and thin you can get easily frustrated if you compare yourself to others. However, one of the greatest benefits of wide and shallow is being able to appreciate others knowledge and specialties. When you can celebrate others knowledge and success you’ll be far more content with your own progress.

Even though your knowledge on certain subjects may be less than expert, or your interests may be spread wider than you think is wise, I guarantee that when you start working towards your goals and executing them, you’ll be surprised at how much you’re accomplishing and learning by not being overly caught up in the most arcane details.

Related posts:

Learn about what Affiliate Marketing is and how to start your new career working from home.

In the vast world of online file sharing, torrenting has emerged as a prominent method for exchanging large files. However, it’s no secret that torrenting comes with its fair share of risks…

They are queries where we can calculate fields individually, that is you can calculate all the rows that are inside a field and you’ll get only the result of all the rows inside a field, so the main…