After hearing author David Epstein speak on a radio show, I have added his book to my reading list. Epstein wrote Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. It piqued my interest because I’ve always seen value in spending your time in multiple lanes as that way you don’t know which rules you’re not allowed to break. Creativity comes from connecting dots from far flung places and it’s hard to see those dots when you’re specializing in just one area. This, along with the fact that our young people will be working one day in jobs that don’t even exist yet. So how can you prepare? You can be a creative, critical thinker. Epstein talks about embracing trial and error in life in order to triangulate (almost like finding a given cell phone by comparing the pings off a number of towers) and figure out which signal suits you most. You find out where you belong by finding out where you don’t belong. Continue reading
Tag: Critical thinking
On this day in 399 BC, ancient Greek philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death. The charges were that he was corrupting the youth and did not believe in the gods of the time.
Socrates questioned the way things were and asked others to do the same. He was the father of debate and cross-examining ideas. He asked his students, including Plato, to think critically and scrutinize their lives. Not to believe what the world was telling them without thinking in through. He taught the idea that doing the right thing was more important than being a monetary success. That happiness comes from the journey, not the destination. Continue reading