At one time, I was one of the best in the country at what I did on my day job. I work for a company that designed the equivalent of Central Traffic Control Centers for railroads. They are called Dispatching Centers. Our team designed and delivered the first computer based system in the country to a railroad. At the time railroads were very scared of computer based systems for anything that was considered mission critical to their operations (must work 24/7 or they lose big money). Being the first in the country was a huge accomplishment. I haven’t done that type of work in over 10 years. Today that technology has long passed me by and I feel somewhat intimidated in the presence of the new whiz-kids. So what if I was really interested in competing with the best once again. It’s not something that I could just walk into and be an instant success.
When we typically think of a specialist, we think of Doctors, Neurosurgeons, Engineers, Designers, Rocket Scientists, etc., and these are in fact specialists in their field of training. But let’s take a little less narrow look at being a specialist. The dictionary defines a specialist as:
“One with special training, for example an educational specialist, or someone regarded as an expert.”
In reality, being a specialist at something implies that you possess knowledge or abilities that others don’t have. For instance, someone who can hand sew a quilt is a specialist to me as I don’t have that ability. Someone who can play a guitar like my wife’s uncle (Johnny Rose) is a specialist in his profession. I’ll NEVER have the ability to play like he does, even with years of training. Someone who knows how to sell on eBay is a specialist. Someone who knows how to paint is a specialist. Someone who has good parenting skills is a specialist. Someone who knows how to raise pedigree dogs is a specialist. Someone who knows how to train those dogs to obey is a specialist. Someone who can write poetry is a specialist. Someone who has a wonderful singing voice and entertains others is a specialist. Someone who has a great speaking voice is a specialist (ever listened to audio tapes that contain narrated books?).
Do you see where I’m going with this? Anyone can be a specialist at something, if they have ability OR knowledge that someone else doesn’t have.