18 years ago, I remember marching with some other classmates, singing “sandalili, sandalili”. Although I’ve lost my childhood now, knowing it’s “standard living”.
Anyway, I remember singing to become a doctor. As I grew up, it just didn’t sit right with me that doctors I know aren’t living the dream. What other choice do I have? It’s the most prestigious profession, and many african parents would sell their middle child to have their first born become a doctor. However, you aren’t told this profession is very hard.
To become a medical doctor, you’d learn about 10 unique topics, and yet, the Nigerian economy would fail to reward those years of effort. Cut short, I took a different path in life.
This brings me to the layers of abstractions we have today. Hard stuff are now simplified to enable a democratic knowledge economy. It’s easier than ever to become self taught in a specific subject.
But what they never tell you is:
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going
The world is getting more competitive by the day, and you have to build atomic skills to serve as foundation for success. You want to master these foundational skills and combine them into complex skillsets. To achieve this, you have to adopt the atomic learning style. You can be sure, no change in economy or technology would take your job.
Don’t just be a graphics designer. Become a master at every tool until your work becomes art. Every stroke, color and gradient should have a story. Focus on the hardest parts of using these tools. Spend a lot of time with these tools, understanding what works and what doesn’t. Derive comfort from the atomic learning.
Don’t just be a software dev. Become a master at the vanilla form of a language. Don’t just learn the frameworks. Spend a lot of time understanding how computers work, data structures and algorithms and networking. Be the person who’s able to take advantage of the next wave in tech. Think like the innovator, not the adopter.
Don’t just be a writer. Write Haiku. Tell a story. Publish a book. Writing has been commoditized over the years, but human hearts still crave stories.
Key notes
Because you’re doing hard stuff doesn’t mean you’ll live the dream. It’s the comfort of knowing you’ll be fine regardless. So, spend as much as you can learning from first principles. Go atomic. Start from the A, B C. Go into that No distraction zone.
Doing hard stuff is prestigious. It demonstrate resilience, grit and discipline, without explanation.
Summary: Unleash Your Atomic Genius