My professional career has been relatively short, albeit full of distinct experiences.

It’s these experiences that play to my advantage at times, while simultaneously donating to my fear of undifferentiation. 

It’s an age-old dilemma, and one that, I believe, looms ever stronger for young professionals today: 

How much should one specialize? 

As I progress down the path of client relations, marketing strategy, and business development, I find myself learning more rapidly than at any point in my life. Great, right?

The problem is, I’m learning from a seemingly infinite number of sources. 

In the world of business, principles are constantly contradicting themselves. This makes it hard to study them. Principles can be learned from high achievers (how about the book, Principles by Ray Dalio, for an example), but they must be tried personally in order to be reinforced.

This is where I find myself. It’s probably where you find yourself, too. I don’t think we ever grow out of this cycle.

For the month of February, there is one principle that I’m really starting to like — I’m thinking about adoption: 

Keep the main thing the main thing.

As a young professional, my world is full of smooth talkers, chest puffers, and confidence fakers (not condoning or condemning here). 

With thoughts and opinions floating around faster than Earth’s orbit, it’s easy to get lost in the realm of ideation. Ideas are great, but they are absolutely worthless without execution. Execution — (of something purposeful) — must be the goal.

I believe our principle of “keeping the main thing the main thing” will help us reach that destination. 

This principle has caused me to hate nonsense. 

When a friend, family member, colleague, client, or otherwise starts to speak in a manner I know nothing about, I’ve learned to stop the conversation point-blank. We have to get on the same page. I may look stupid momentarily, but it’s nothing compared to the humiliation of pretending to understand something completely foreign in actuality. 

Here’s the funny part: People generally speak nonsense from a place of insecurity rather than from a place of superior intellect. We’re often afraid to ask questions because we don’t want to look dumb. 

To respond to this, I have to grab another principle of mine: Competence breeds confidence. 

We can fake confidence about a topic, but sooner or later we will be found out. Sacrificing a moment of “looking dumb” to gain understanding will pay dividends down the road. I’ve already experienced this in my young life.

Alright. At the risk of becoming a hypocrite and straying from the main point, I’m going to wrap this thing up.

So, take this principle for what it’s worth. 

Perhaps you found value in my words today. If so, I encourage you to practice this principle in your life — work life and home life. I think eliminating as much nonsense from your labor as possible will prove fruitful for you.

It has for me.