Tower and Town, March 2020 (view the full edition)MicromasteryWe live in the age of specialisation; we encourage our children to specialise to get good wages and a secure living but is this really a good thing? In researching my book Micromastery I found that specialisation might have some disadvantages. For a start, we now know the model of the brain has changed from a static computer type system to a plastic, evolutionary organ that grows in accordance with use. The brain follows the hard dicta of ‘use it or lose it’, and the more you specialise the more you lose the wide range of cognitive potentialities that the majority of children display. I found that according to UNESCO research done by Michigan University's Professor Robert Root-Bernstein, those seeming specialists, Nobel Prize winning scientists, were rather different to how we imagine. Compared to regular scientists a Nobel Winner is 4 times more likely to practise some kind of craft, 15 times more likely to practise music and 22 times more likely to pursue acting, dancing or magic. The Nobel economist with whom I spoke was an excellent pianist - he said he needed the change from maths theory in order to come up with new ideas. But it isn’t just the relaxation a different activity provides, it can also supply new material to cross-fertilise with your main area of study: a formidable way to produce advances. One Nobel winner who had learnt to sew as a child (from a seamstress mother) became a pioneer of suturing as a medical doctor. But for us everyday folk mastering different skills not only keeps us learning it also keeps us interested in life. I have found that learning one small skill, such as making a perfect omelette or perfecting your handwriting - rather than trying to master a whole raft of complicated skills - is a way to avoid the sense of ‘it’s not worth trying, the field is just so big’. By breaking up areas of interest into micromasteries you give yourself permission to be interested in anything, since you can drop that interest and get another without losing a big investment of time. Books by Robert Twigger are available at the White Horse Bookshop. These include: Micromastery Robert Twigger |