Want to know the secret to staying at the top of your professional game? Consistently acquiring the required skills to stay competitive in your industry is essential — but certain personality traits and habits are increasingly integral to success. Average Is Over author Tyler Cowen theorizes that the future of skill-based work will largely be influenced by qualities like intelligence, discipline, and vision.
“In the future, and to a large extent today, the most important qualities for job market success will be IQ, values, conscientiousness, and discipline,” Tyler tells The Creativity Post. “For the very top earners, vision and inspiration are essential. You need those to become the next Steve Jobs, but perhaps not to be the highest paid dentist in Beverly Hills.”
Tyler predicts that only 15-20 percent of the United States will be capable of rising to the top of their field in the next twenty years, and these lucky few individuals will hone their skills in intuitive ways and learn how to market themselves effectively. They will also embrace the technological leaps and bounds that influence our economy, and grow with “genius machines” (aka advanced computers and robotics) rather than compete against them.
Take the medical field. Surgeries are increasingly being performed by robotics, and doctors can either choose to work with these robotics, or stick to their guns (aka their own two hands) and eventually become obsolete. New skills must be continually acquired and developed in order to retain your spot as a member of the narrowing 15-20 percent window that Tyler describes.
“The most prestigious job is already something other than medical doctor, which in relative terms has lost some cache,” he explains. “How about hi-tech entrepreneur?…The skills behind being a doctor seem rather mechanical these days, not too different from auto mechanic.”
Despite Tyler’s somewhat worrying assertion that we are “not as smart as we think,” we can put his advice into effect by honing our skills with increased discipline, knowledge, and expertise.
Source: The Creativity Post
