Sometimes, we think that we should only be good at a thing or two which are valued at work. And instead of exploring other skills that may or may not be directly related to the work we’re paid to do, we only limit ourselves to learning things we thought were “useful” at the moment.
Should we only learn technical things when we do technical work? Does that mean that exploring to do art (and perhaps trying to get better at it) is a sin?
Well, whenever this question shows up, I usually return to Leonardo da Vinci. Why? Because he didn’t just learn a thing or two. Leonardo da Vinci did not limit himself to the job description. Instead, he made learning many things and getting better at them normal for a creative human being.
On that note, you may wonder what kind of job I do to feed my growing appetite. Well, I am an electrical engineer with a master’s degree in energy engineering. In addition, I work as a researcher at a known university in the Philippines to keep the lights on; Meanwhile, I work on this blog and my podcast (which is never up-to-date, sorry!) as an avenue to show you another part of me who doesn’t always talk about energy. Oh yes, I often write about energy-related topics here, but you get the point.
What I am trying to say is that it’s not all bad if you want to get better at playing the piano if you work as a bank teller. And you don’t have to feel guilty learning a new thing that might not be directly related to your work in the office. Because diversifying your skillset opens doors to opportunities you never thought possible.
And who knows? Your office might need someone who does voice-overs for their new ad. And they don’t have to look for external candidates when they can have you!
Oh no. I won’t get paid for this additional work.
But you know what? When the office decides to lay off people (like during the peak of Covid-19), you will be the last to go out of the door. Why? Because your versatility makes you retainable, especially during hard times.
This actually happened to my dear friend who never lost his job during the pandemic just because he could do the things the rest of them did. So when the management had to make the hard decision of laying off redundant people, my friend became one of the last people standing. Simply because he learned a lot of things (and actually got better at them), even if they were beyond his job description.
jessa 