You Are 1 Skill Away from Greatness – Just Learn that One New Skill

Yes, you read that right!

I’m telling you that the vast majority of people reading this will be a just single skill away from reaching a much higher level in life! You may not know what that skill is, or even believe me when I say this.

And that’s fine, because…

By the end of this article, you will know what skills you should focus on next for your own breakthrough! Or at the very least have your path to figuring that out. You will also understand the soundness of this method and know that it’s 100% possible for you as well!

That’s my goal for you today and my passion for helping people, so let’s jump right into it!

The Conventional Wisdom of Specialisation 

People often suggest the opposite:

Specialize, specialize, specialize! Then specialize some more if you want to become better!

It’s common advice.

Know why?

It’s given so often because it works!

The reason why a brain surgeon or a technical engineer can earn so much is because they have specialized themselves. There are simply not many people with their degree of skill, while they are very much needed and so they can get more for their labor.

But, that’s only half the story…

There is another way to increase your value, both career-wise and in other areas of your life. It’s the strategy I follow and that I would recommend for most people. It’s also way more doable for most people compared to the degree of specialization required to reach the top otherwise.

The Synergy of Skills

Let me ask you this:

Can you cook a better burger than McDonald’s? 

Probably, it’s really not that hard.

Yet, both Mcdonald’s as a company and their franchisees earn significantly more than most people do. Even most other burger places, that sell better burgers!

And that’s because of the synergy of skills.

Cooking a great burger is 1 skill, but knowing how to sell is a completely different skill. Then, business strategies, optimizing processes and marketing are some completely different skillsets. Different skills complement each other really well and work towards a shared goal. 

McDonald’s does so well because they’re good at all of them!

Making the best burger is not enough…

You need to be able to market your restaurant properly and have proper systems in place. Which most of the smaller restaurants do not. They simply lack those extra skills. If they were to improve their marketing, the business would improve significantly.

That’s how the synergy of skills works!

It is the situation where a certain skill greatly enhances the other skills that are at work. It’s one of those situations where 1 + 1 doesn’t equal 2, but something much higher. It means that 1 person or business that has both skills would be way more effective than 2 people who possess only one of those skills could possibly hope to be.

You Need 1 More Skill

The same is true for you as well.

If you were to acquire 1 more skill, you can make an enormous leap in your career, social life or any other part of your life. I don’t know what that skill is for you, but I’ll give you a few examples to help you figure that out.

Let’s say you’re a programmer.

You’re great at programming, but little else. 

In this case what if you learned how to do marketing or get into entrepreneurship? You could vastly increase your income by doing it for yourself. Or if your own business is not for you, how about learning about management or HR instead? This way you can increase your value to the company and be first in line for a senior or management function in your department.

Another example:

I love the story that Robert Kiyosaki shares in his best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad. He had an interview with a journalist who was writing her own books, want to become a best-selling author. She worked for the newspaper to improve her writing skills, while her books weren’t going anywhere at all.

The fix?

He recommended that instead of working for the paper, she’d get a job in marketing or sales. Or that she should pick up some courses to learn how to sell. It’s called a best-selling author for a reason. You need to learn how to get an audience and sell those books.

That will move the needle way more than becoming a slightly better author.

See how that works?

You’re one more skill away from your next huge leap forward!

Your Next Step

So, where do you begin?

The very first step for you, if you don’t know already, is to figure out what you truly want to achieve. If you don’t know what you want, you’ll never get there! So take a moment to think about your dreams, nothing is too big or small, as long as this dream is yours!

After that, you need to take a good look at where you stand.

• Which skills do you have?
• Which skills do you need to reach your goal?
• What’s missing?
• Which skill would move the needle the most?

And that will be your answer.

You’ll know exactly where you should put your focus and how to create that synergy of skills. This is the point where you will have to spend time every day to learn and put those learnings into action. Apply it, master it, get to the next level and then look for the next skill that moves you forward from there!