Chapter 342

your narrow band of strength  - Rockwell

The best of us only have a narrow band of strength, and the most of us are generally generalists finding it difficult to even find a narrow band of strength. In my opinion, this is the truth of the matter, however, many people think they are an expert on everything, that they know everything, and that they are basically omniscience. But this chapter is not about the many, its about the best who understand that they only have a narrow band of strength, a narrow band of capabilities, a narrow band of skills and abilities.

Nothing has shown me this in such abundance as these last four months living with my dad. While he is an irascible old crudmurgeon, he is also easily one of the talented people I know. Welding cutting bending repairing remodeling hammering sawing nailing brakes carburetors radiators engine-rebuilding steering wiring he can do it all. BUT he is only really really really good at the engine components, he is merely competent at all that other stuff. So even the amazing Earl only has a narrow band of strength. But the real lesson lies in this, he is always learning, and that is how he gained such a broad base of general competency. 

My narrow band of strength lies in a completely different direction than does my dad’s, but I am soaking up all he is willing to teach and show and model in his areas, so that I too can learn more and more. A couple of days ago Seth pointed out that we could spend 100 hours of intense focus on learning something new. And that is what I am doing.