You can’t afford to ignore this aspect of expertise.

First of all, thanks Neal Foard my brilliant multi-talented Zoom friend, who did the above portrait during a really fun conversation. Neal is a superb storyteller.

.......

I woke up two days ago with some minor swelling in my left hand.

Oh well. I thought, life can't always be fun.

But a hand is an important body part. As a writer I am particularly attached to it. And the swelling got worse, not better.

I had been planning to write about sleep today. I am preparing to lead a group and to discuss how to prep for rest at night by reducing body temperature and managing light exposure. I’ve been tracking my own evening wind down ritual and how it relates to the length and quality of my night’s sleep. I am charting huge benefits.

Thank you, Sally Duxfield Andrew Huberman and Matthew Walker.

But with the hand, I’m challenged to make breakfast, drive a car, do my laundry. Let alone produce this newsletter.

Mastery over mind and body is the central expertise.

Instead of writing the planned article, I sit and stew.

I think of all the places and people I want to enjoy and write about.

I page through my notebooks full of ideas. With one hand.

I look around in dismay at all the objects I had promised myself I would deal with.

An awfulizing voice has taken up residence inside me. It asks what will I do if stiff fingers prevent me from achieving all this.

Oh my inner critic, you are so - - - right.

Here's what else the judge demands to know.

Anne, do you have contingency plans?

So happens, I do.

I will adapt.

Let's look at a few shining beacons of adaptation.

Formula 1 driver Alex Zanardi

After several years competing in Formula 1, Alex Zanardi lost both legs after an accident in 2001. Three years later, he was on the track again driving a BMW for which he himself had adapted some prostheses.

He won four World Touring Car Championship victories.

Painter Frida Kahlo

She suffered polio during her childhood and may have had spina bifida, which caused coordination difficulties in her right leg. Her back problems were aggravated by an accident suffered in her teens, which left her with physical challenges for her entire life.

Frida spent much of it in bed suffering from severe pain.

Even so, she became one of the most famous artists of all time and an icon of the twentieth century.

Tenor Andrea Boccelli

He was born with congenital glaucoma that left him partially blind. His parents encouraged his interest in music. In a fantastic example of the benefits of neuroplasticity, Boccelli learned to play piano as a child. But then a head accident during a soccer game made him completely blind at age 12. Determined to succeed, he decided to focus entirely on music, specifically on singing. He has sold more than 75 million records.

Need we look further?

Amazon started as a book retailer.

Netflix was a DVD rental chain.

Play-Doh was conceived as a wallpaper cleaner.

Slack began as a computer game company.

LEGO used to be a theme-park.

Here's an interesting career reboot.

Kim Kardashian was once Paris Hilton’s assistant.

With these examples to inspire, what's a pesky swollen hand?

The most important human expertise is adaptation.

If you are struggling to maintain your own area of expertise, or feel the need to refresh an existing one, or seeking to get started, let's remember the remarkable ability of the brain to change itself. Here are some thoughts to encourage neuroplasticity.

What combination of ideas could you offer that would be revolutionary and put your services in great demand?

Let's say your background is in efficiency. Are there new areas where you could offer your efficiency-related advice and help?

Where could you question time honoured ways of doing things that may no longer be relevant?

Where are people in your field stymied? Ask yourself if you can come up with a new approach.

.......

This article is not a focused one à la Nora Ephron.

That is my point today.

Sometimes meandering and improvising are necessary to end up where we need to go.

My adaptation to hand.

I’m dictating this article and will post with minimal clicks.

I am telling it to heal. (I have wrapped part of it a special stretchy tape.)

Meantime I messaged my inner critics.

I’ll gradually deal with the backlog.

I will create new material for these articles.

Worst case scenario - I will adapt and grow. Every challenge is an opportunity.

What thoughts do you have about how to reinvent yourself or your company, should the need arise?

Repost if this has helped you and follow me as I mull, muse and share on expertise.

I mentor and coach high-achievers in creative fields, in science, in healthcare, in academia, in leadership, in management, in the professions and in tech.

To recap the past few posts of the Art and Science of Expertise -

In Be the Voice That’s Known for Saying What Really Matters, we learn from Academy-award nominated screenwriter Nora Ephron how to get to what she called The Point.

In How to Access What Really Matters, we look at non-verbal ways to connect with your memories of those who made you who you are, so you can go even further.

And in The Nobel Prize-Winning Artist-Scientist Who Went from Delinquency to Expertise, we learn from the man who fathered a whole new branch of science by sticking with his inborn talent and adding it to new ways of doing original research.

#Expertise #Theartandscienceofexpertise #Communicate #Adaptation

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