It was his distaste for those instruments that led him to the cello.

Believe it or not, world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma actually first played the piano and violin. This kind of sampling is even good in disciplines like music. He didn’t focus on tennis until he was a teenager, showing us it’s okay to try things out until you find what you like. He believes trying this diverse collection of sports helped him develop the impressive hand-eye coordination and athleticism he has today. Remember before when I mentioned Tiger Woods starting golf at a young age? Roger Ferderer, one of the best tennis players in the world and longtime friend of Woods’, reached athletic stardom in quite a different way.Īs a child, he dabbled in many other sports including skiing, basketball, tennis, skateboarding, and badminton. If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.ĭownload PDF Lesson 1: Testing many different options is just as good as focusing on just one area early in life.

The more famous you become for being an expert in one area, the more likely it is that you will be terrible at making accurate predictions about your field.Īre you ready to feel some inspiration to take a chance at your long-forgotten passions? Let’s get started!.

You will be better at innovating and more successful if you have a breadth of experience.

To become excellent, don’t specialize early in life, experiment with many different paths.

Here are 3 of the most life-changing lessons this book teaches about generalization: Rather than go with the fashionable choice of choosing your specialty early on, he encourages you to take your time and allow for more flexibility and creativity. He also explains why cultivating a large range of skills will ultimately make you more successful. In David Epstein‘s book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, he shares examples from pros in every field, from sports to science. But the advantage that comes from being a generalist is you can build more connections in different fields making you more innovative and creative. Granted, it might take longer to find your calling in life this way. But if you look at the research, generalizing rather than specializing will prime you for the greatest success. Honing in on golf at an early age worked for Woods. If you want to be the next Tiger Woods, you had better start playing golf at age 4. And for a lot of people, getting ahead means making sure you get a head start and specialize early. In today’s cut-throat world there’s a lot of pressure to succeed.

Blinkist Discount Code May 2023 ġ-Sentence-Summary: Range shows that having a broad spectrum of skills and interests and taking your time to figure them out is better than specializing in just one area.

David epstein range