Our professional life is busy, busy, busy… and we struggle to find time to do something out of our level of expertise. I think we should schedule some time to try new things - even though it might not benefit us directly. We should feed our curiosity.
I keep on trying new things every week
Every week I aim at trying out something new. I was asked recently on an interview why do I use apps like Foursquare, Instagram… and even signed up for Google+ although I don’t like it all that much.
Well, I like to know how things work… and in order to keep developing my product (Nozbe) I need to see how other products work and what kind of approach they take to commonly known problems. I want to know, how these things feel.
Steve Jobs disassembled a Sony Walkman
Do you know the web site iFixit? What they do is they disassemble new Apple products to show you how it can be done and to see what’s inside. Here’s how they tear down my newest Macbook Air.
Well, Steve Jobs, the famous CEO of Apple was so fascinated in the 80s by Sony that he bought the Sony Walkman and disassembled it to see how it’s done on the inside. He wanted to understand how it worked. Judging from the fact how Apple now makes beautiful small gadgets like iPods, iPhones, iPads or the new Macbook Airs, his curiosity helped him shape the products of the future. He didn’t build a competitor to the Walkman at first… but when he was building the iPod 20 years later he knew what he was doing.
I wanna be like Steve…
Well, I don’t. But I totally understand his curiosity and I’m dedicated to trying out new things. I have so much on my plate that I don’t normally have time for this… but I try to make time and I believe you should do the same. We grow by learning new things and studying how things work. This makes us better and helps us serve our customers better.
What’s the newest thing you tried out recently?