Side-quests

We pick a domain. We work to understand the ins and outs of it. That’s how modern workers do things, right?

We pick what’s most popular or what interests us. Generally, there are hundreds of thousands of people working towards achieving similar goals.

What differentiates one from another?

Sidequests.

In video games, sidequests don’t impact the main storyline and the objective of the game, they’re in an isolation. A new challenge that interests us. I’d like to apply that analogy in how one differentiates from another when both are working towards a common goal.

A new skill learnt in isolation, completely separate from the main goal is like having played a sidequest that doesn’t directly impact the main storyline of the game. Now, sidequests can be of two types: First, something that doesn’t affect our understanding of the main story. Second, something that generates insights that helps us play the main game even better.

In the second type, the benefit of playing the sidequest is not spoken of. The gamer applies the insights resulting in enhanced understanding of the main game. Similarly, picking up a new skill (a totally isolated one) can help us bring forward newer insights about work and life and hence, after connecting the dots, we can play our main game even better.