Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 12:27 am
We humans are funny creatures. We tend to do things we are good at doing and avoid things at which we suck. Consequently we achieve unbalanced specialization rather than across-the-board ability. Specialization encourages glaring weaknesses that become failure points when we are under stress.
Julie Foucher is a world-class Crossfitter and a first year medical student at the Cleveland Clinic who just posted an interesting story about her school's grading method, the portfolio system.
The idea behind it is that by accentuating weaknesses we are able to focus on the areas that most need improvement. In a world that is changing fast - perhaps faster than we can comprehend - it seems important that we become well rounded so we are able to adapt.
Julie: "Constantly pressuring individuals to exude an air of perfection, society persuades us that the perfect outfit or a stellar college transcript, house, or career can provide a façade for the imperfections and insecurities that we all have. While they may allow us to proceed through life smiling on the outside, outward expressions of perfection may actually prevent us from recognizing our flaws and capitalizing on real opportunities for growth."
Blog Post:
http://juliefoucher.com/2012/05/29/our- ... cializing/
Crossfit's tag line is, "Our specialty is not specializing." I'd be interested to know how others have done this in different areas of life.
Julie Foucher is a world-class Crossfitter and a first year medical student at the Cleveland Clinic who just posted an interesting story about her school's grading method, the portfolio system.
The idea behind it is that by accentuating weaknesses we are able to focus on the areas that most need improvement. In a world that is changing fast - perhaps faster than we can comprehend - it seems important that we become well rounded so we are able to adapt.
Julie: "Constantly pressuring individuals to exude an air of perfection, society persuades us that the perfect outfit or a stellar college transcript, house, or career can provide a façade for the imperfections and insecurities that we all have. While they may allow us to proceed through life smiling on the outside, outward expressions of perfection may actually prevent us from recognizing our flaws and capitalizing on real opportunities for growth."
Blog Post:
http://juliefoucher.com/2012/05/29/our- ... cializing/
Crossfit's tag line is, "Our specialty is not specializing." I'd be interested to know how others have done this in different areas of life.