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On Thursday, Evan sparked my mind again. He’s really going to have to stop doing that 
When you are looking about expanding into new territory or trying new things, it is normal to fall back on skills that we have acquired in other areas. We then translate them and apply them to the current situation. In software, it’s called porting an application. If you have a program on your desktop that you want to run on a Palm, then you will want to adapt it to run in the new environment.
Of course changing a program to run in a different environment is very different from adapting to a new situation, but there’s still a lesson to be gained.
Porting skills from one job to another.
Let’s say that you work with stocks. You have developed skills in situational awareness, an eye for detail, and sharp recognition and recall. Now, let’s place you in a new environment. How about… property management. As a reflex, you’ll probably bring your acquired skills into play. However, you will still feel like a fish out of water because you don’t know what is and isn’t being covered by your existing set of skills. Here’s where taking control comes in handy.
Let’s take this stock analysis skill set and apply it intelligently instead of as a reflex. Situational awareness and an eye for detail will serve well in spotting trouble before it gets out of hand. Quick recognition and recall will cover some area in the interpersonal skills you’ll need. Depending on the nature of the work you were doing before, you may be used to handling money. For our purposes we’re going to assume that’s a “yes”. Looks like it’s all in hand, right? Well, not quite.
“To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.”
This has been credited to Confucius, Copernicus, and Thoreau. So, I credit all of them.
Once you have intelligently applied that which you know, it’s time to take stock of what you don’t. Here’s where being a self-assured individual comes in handy. If you can’t admit that you don’t know something, you won’t be able to make much headway here.
Take note of where your knowledge ends and find a label for the space beyond. Say, in this example, you use your strong analysis and recall capabilities to recognize everyone on the property on sight. That may not give you strong social skills to interact with them. In that case, you would identify that as a known area where you need a boost.
As you continue on, you’re eventually going to come to the realization that you have accounted for everything you can think of. At the same time, you know that you’re missing something. That’s ok. Just keep your eyes open and wait for one of those “unknown unknowns” to identify themselves.
“Can you prepare for the unexpected? No, you cannot. You can only prepare to be surprised.”
-Source Unknown
Is “porting” your knowledge from one area to another perfect? Of course not. However, it does indeed have its uses. By choosing to use this capacity (that you already have) deliberately, you can then use it to greater effectiveness.
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