David Epstein's mental models

Their wordsResearching athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters, scientists, and more, I found that broad interests and diverse experience were hallmarks of the typical path to fulfillment and achievement.

Their wordsCompared to other scientists, for instance, Nobel laureates are at least twenty-two times more likely to have a hobby (usually artistic) unrelated to their work. They also tend to do more multidisciplinary work and progress more slowly early in their careers — a pattern mirrored by elite athletes, who usually go through a “sampling period” of diverse experience, and delay narrow specialization.

Their words“Exploit” means digging into what you already know and maximizing the benefit from it. Getting the balance right is crucial. The trouble is, in pursuit of a head start, we often skip “explore” and jump right to the more narrow “exploit.”

Their wordsIn other words: career zig-zaggers are more likely to feel unappreciated while on the path to developing a broad skill set, but also more likely (eventually) to ascend to the highest echelon in their work.