Not many people know how to fly a jet

Jet flying is a scarce skill. A valuable skill. A so jet flying is a very lucrative profession.

On the flip side, lots of people can drive. And so taxi drivers make a standard fare.

If your financial situation and by extension wellbeing comes down to skills, it makes sense then to choose to do a skill that’s in high demand, that not a lot of people can do well.

And if you find yourself spending your time learning skills that everyone can do, just for the sake of knowing what everyone else knows, or simply because that’s the task you’ve been assigned, maybe it’s time to reconsider how you’re spending your time.

Skills make a job what it is. Not your upbringing. Not your education. Not your CV or the podcasts you’ve listened to or the books you’ve read. No, skills alone define your competency, and they determine the financial capital you receive in exchange for an hours worth of work.

Scarce skills are the reason people just as competent and capable as you make double or triple what you do. Like it or not, you get paid for the skills you know and how you use them.

The time you spend learning profuse skills is time you could be learning scarce skills.