Do you want to become the best at something? Skill stacking is the answer! Watch this video for more details.
We all know what it takes to become an NBA player years of countless practices, camps and games. Those who make it to the NBA usually start playing basketball from a very young age. They develop a skill set based around shooting, ball handling, passing defense and anything else that brings one success in basketball. But what are the chances of becoming an NBA player? Well, they are remarkably low. Think about it. There are 30 teams of about 15 players, each for a total of roughly 450 players. Now, there are estimates that there are more than 5000 young men playing youth basketball around the country. When you crunch the numbers, you will realize that fewer than one in 1000 will make it to the NBA. The same can be concluded pretty much about any other popular sports, such as American football, European soccer, baseball and tennis. So let's be realistic. You are not going to make it to the NBA. You will not become the President of the United States. You will not be the world's greatest writer, nor the top chess player, nor the most masterful public speaker. You will never be the best in the world at any given skill. There will always be someone working harder. There will always be someone with greater genetic gifts or more luck or both. But trying to be the best at one thing is not the smartest path to success. Instead, you should put your effort into mastering a combination of skills. The solution is skill stacking, a concept popularized by Scott Adams. Here's how it works. Years ago, a friend of mine had to take the GMAT test. He was hoping to get into some of the top graduate business schools and nailing this test was a key step in the process. His first choice school, Stanford, would only accept the top 6% of applicants. That meant he had to score in the 94th percentile to have a shot at getting in. The day of the test, he was trembling. He sat in front of his computer in the test room, looking at the clock. 1 minute left to start. 20 seconds. One begin. After four intense hours, he finished the test. But he couldn't rest because the results appeared almost instantly on the screen. He scored in the 90th percentile on the math portion and in the 95th percentile on the verbal portion. So that means I'm in the 92nd percentile. He thought. His heart sank. Those scores wouldn't cut it, but by Stanford. But then, as he looked closer, he saw something else. His overall score was in the 98 percentile. What? How was this possible? It turns out most math minded test takers were bad with words, and the word loving ones couldn't quite hack the fractions. So while my friend's score wasn't the best in any one section, it was among the best when these sections were considered in combination. This is how skill stacking works. It's easier and more effective to be in the top 10% in several different skills, which together form your own skill stack than it is to be in the top 1% in anyone's skill. Ideally, the skills should be unique and also complimentary. Imagine someone who is reasonably good at public speaking, fundraising, speechwriting, charisma, networking, social media and persuasion. Who is this person? A successful politician. The most successful politicians don't seem to be off the charts amazing at individual skills, but check off the right boxes that allow them to thrive at their craft. This principle applies across all fields. A writer can be just about the best prose stylist there is, but probably won't find as much success as the person who is a reasonably good prose stylist, a strong selfpromoter, a pretty fast writer and engaging public speaker, and has the interpersonal skills to connect with important people in the publishing industry. Selfhelp guru Dairy Vaynerchuk is a great example of a skill stacker. He has almost 10 million Instagram and TikTok followers, over 2 million Twitter followers, over 3 million YouTube subscribers, and an active blog that people read as if it were Holy scripture. On these channels, you'll find content that is solid but not exactly mind blowing. The magic that sets Vaynerchuk apart is his skill stack. The fact that he's not just a good writer, but is also savvy on social media, good at public speaking and great at personal branding is what makes him one of the top self help gurus in his field. The same principle applies to Steve Jobs too. At the heart of Jobs skills stack is a passion for design, be it fonts, packaging or architecture. He was obsessive about the look and feel of his products. He was never the best in the world at design, but over time he developed a keen understanding of winning design principles. He later combined his various design skills with deep insight about what people want, technical knowledge, a strategic mind salesmanship and ability to extract everything from his employees and entrepreneurial skills. Together, these skills helped him form a company that was focused on advanced technology and beautiful design. In discovering your own skills stack, consider the combination of skills. You want them to be related in some way, but not too similar. For example, if you are in the top 1% in programming, also being in the top 1% in writing automated tests isn't going to be a big differentiator. Most top programmers are good test writers. What is different about stacking is having skills that not only work together, but also are varied enough to make you stand out. The best skills to choose are those that don't tend to go together but complement each other well. For example, programmers aren't known to be great public speakers, so those who are will have a huge professional advantage. Think about it. If you are a top programmer who can develop complementary skills at design, psychology, public speaking, entrepreneurship, you will be a great candidate to become the founder of the next multibillion software startup. You'll have the right skills to select the best tech for your product, work with the design team to make it truly stand out and influence others in order to attract VC funding into your startup as well as hire the best talent on the market. Your individual skills with your individual level against the rest of population might look like these on the chart, but when you combine them together you can identify the overlapping area. Even if you are not in the top 1% in any of these skills, very few people overlap in all of them. Stop trying to be the best at one thing, you're setting yourself up for some serious disappointment. Instead, ask yourself in what niche do I want to stand out? What combination of skills do I need to be unique in that niche and am I passionate about most of these skills? It is not about being great at any one thing. You just need to be pretty good at an array of useful skills skills. When combined, these skills will make you truly one of a kind. If you found this video useful, I would appreciate it if you smash the like button. Also make sure to subscribe to the coding tech channel and click on the notification Bell. Enjoy the rest of your day bye.