Find Someone Who Compliments You
You cannot be all things to all people.
They say that the formula for failure is to try to please everyone.
A jack of all trades is indeed a master of none.
In life you have a purpose, a mission, work that only you can do. Everything else can be done by someone else.
Maybe you are great at selling, and you want to sell all day. You will need to find someone who can compliment you by organizing and administrating your sales.
On the flip side, maybe you are great at organizing but don’t want to sell, find a compliment, someone who can do the other work that you don’t want to do.
In the 1950’s in America, men and women had specific gender roles. Men worked and made money, Women looked after the house and the family. Each role was specialized and you needed a compliment to survive.
In 2016 the lines are blurred on roles in families, dad might stay home, mom might work and make the money, they both cook dinner, one drives the kids to school, one picks the kids up. The roles today are less complimentary, more homogenous and the result is that families do not function as well today and divorce rates hover at around 40-50%.
What made families effective 60 years ago was everyone had a specific role, something they could master and they had a compliment to take over all the other tasks.
Think of a sports team made up of offensive players, defensive players and maybe a goalie. Each player has a role and a specialization that compliments the other players. There are no effective teams where everyone plays the same role.
In primitive small tribes, all tribe members are generalists. They all hunt, gather, build homes, make clothes, participate in rituals and generally do a little bit of everything. As the tribe grows and becomes bigger, the tribe members start to specialize into farmers, hunters, soldiers, mothers, teachers, etc. and throughout history, the bigger more specialized tribes have always ruled the smaller tribes of generalists.
In your life and in your business you want to be a master of your work and have a compliment, maybe a business partner, maybe a spouse who takes all of your non masterful work away. Let someone else master your non-masterful work.
Do the work that only you can do and give the rest away to your compliment. There is no value in trying to build strengths out of your weaknesses.
Respect The Grind,
Stefan Aarnio
