{"id":108462,"date":"2023-07-14T16:20:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T20:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=108462"},"modified":"2023-07-19T09:20:19","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T13:20:19","slug":"diverse-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/diverse-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"How Diverse Skills Can Help You Get the Lifestyle You Want"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you a specialist in just one area? If so, are you aware of how that could be holding you back<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retired astrophysicist Jacob Lund Fisker argues in Early Retirement Extreme <\/em>that it\u2019s possible to break out of the unsatisfying cycle of consumerism. Part of the equation is increasing your financial security by diversifying your skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more to discover how diverse skills can help you get the lifestyle you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Tips to Develop Diverse Skills<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Fisker, diverse skills are a key component of the early retirement lifestyle. Most people strive to be highly valued in the labor market by specializing in a single area of expertise. However, if you cover your entire cost of living with the income from a single skill, you\u2019ll be especially vulnerable if that income is disrupted. For instance, if new specialists enter your industry and competition becomes fiercer, you may struggle to hold a job in your field\u2014or earn income any other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than creating a life for yourself that depends on you profiting from a single specialty, Fisker recommends building a diverse set of skills. This way, you\u2019ll have the skills necessary to get a job in a wide variety of fields, if necessary, making you resilient to disruptions to any one industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uniquely Valuable Skill Combinations<\/strong>

A diverse skill set is arguably even more valuable to employers than Fisker describes. While Fisker asserts that having a variety of skills is valuable primarily because it lets you get jobs in a variety of fields, others argue that a diverse set of skills is worth more than the sum of its parts<\/a>.

There are certain things that only people with a specific combination of skills can do. For instance, to be the creative director of a marketing department, you must know how to both craft compelling advertising and manage a team. While professional-level skills are rare, unique combinations<\/em> of skills are even rarer and are therefore more valuable. If your skill set is unique enough to make you irreplaceable, you\u2019ve guaranteed yourself a level of job security<\/a> resilient enough to outlast tough competition and other disruptions to your industry.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to diverse work<\/em> skills, Fisker recommends mastering the daily living<\/em> skills necessary to fix household problems rather than spending money to have others do so (or on products that do it for you). This helps you further minimize your expenses, making retirement a viable option sooner. For example, if you teach yourself how to paint your house, you won\u2019t have to hire anyone to do it for you ever again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Experts have identified which DIY skills<\/a> are most helpful for minimizing your expenses<\/a>: Basic plumbing is relatively simple to learn for many people and can save the $75 an hour or so you would have to pay a professional plumber. Free software makes it easier to file your own taxes and save hundreds on an accountant. In contrast, some skills require so much time and money to learn that you\u2019d be better off outsourcing them. Learning to install a new fuel pump in your car, for example, requires such a heavy investment in the proper tools and know-how that it may be worth paying for a professional.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are Fisker\u2019s tips on how to build a diverse, resilient skillset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n