Specialist or Generalist

Every day feels like a decade compressed into 24 hours online.

New tools, new hacks, new workflows.

It’s overwhelming if you’re trying to “catch up.”

It’s a massive advantage if you think about this right.

For years, I lived by this rule:

Get so good at one thing that people can’t ignore you.

I believe this works partially now.

Because today, the most valuable skill isn’t mastering one craft.

It’s mastering the ability to learn anything fast — and make it useful even faster (classic).

The Death of the Traditional Generalist

A “generalist” used to mean:

• Knows a bit of this and that.

• Jack of all trades, master of none.

• Can float across roles but isn’t dangerous at anything.

That version of a generalist is dead.

The new generalist looks like this:

• Sees a new tool or skill and doesn’t panic — they lean in.

• Knows how to go from clueless to competent in days.

• Doesn’t chase every tool but can build something useful with any of them.

This isn’t about having 100 skills.

It’s about having one meta-skill:

Knowing how to figure things out at speed.

The 5-Part System to Become This Person

1. Learn on Demand (Not in Case)

Forget “learning Python just in case” or “doing a 30-hour AI course.”

In this world, you learn when you need it — and only enough to build.

• Spot a problem you want to solve.

• Pick a tool that could solve it.

• Learn just enough to make that tool useful.

This makes learning faster, stickier, and instantly valuable.

2. Build Publicly, Always

Every time you learn something, turn it into a public asset.

• Solved a research bottleneck? Share the workflow.

• Built a personal dashboard? Share the template.

• Used AI to speed up content creation? Share the exact prompt stack.

This does two things:

• Forces you to actually understand what you learned (teaching = learning x2)

• Turns your learning process into a magnet for opportunities

3. Document Every Process (Build Your Second Brain)

Most people’s learning is fragile.

They figure something out, use it once, and forget it.

The pros?

They document everything.

• Every new workflow = saved in a personal playbook.

• Every successful experiment = turned into a repeatable system.

• Every useful template = stored and ready to reuse.

This isn’t “building a second brain” for fun.

It’s compounding your edge every time you learn.

4. Speed Beats Mastery

The game isn’t “get certified” anymore.

The game is:

• Hear about a tool on Monday.

• Use it to solve a real problem by Wednesday.

• Share your working process by Friday.

The faster you close the learn → apply → teach loop, the more unstoppable you become.

5. Think in Systems, Not Tools

Tools change. Systems last.

If you know how to:

• Spot the real bottleneck.

• Pick any tool that fits the job.

• Build a system to make that tool useful.

You’ll never fear “new tech” again.

AI isn’t the first disruption. It won’t be the last.

This mindset works in every future.

Example: My Fitness Tracker in 3 Hours

• I wanted a tracker tailored to my workouts.

• No app existed that fit exactly what I wanted.

It’s not “be a coder” or “be an AI expert.”

It’s being the person who can figure out how to get anything done — with whatever tools exist.

What Most People Get Wrong About AI

They still think AI will:

❌ Replace writers

❌ Replace designers

❌ Replace marketers

The truth:

✅ AI will replace people who refuse to work with it

✅ AI is only as smart as the person using it

✅ AI can write — but only if you can tell it what good writing is

✅ AI can design — but only if you know what great design looks like

The Only Skill That Matters in 2025

It’s not prompting.

It’s not coding.

It’s not writing.

It’s this:

Becoming the person who can figure out any tool — and make it useful — faster than anyone else.

The faster you go from:

What’s this new thing? → Here’s how I’m using it to solve X real problem.

The bigger your advantage.

That’s how you future-proof yourself — no matter what tech comes next.

The 2025 Playbook (Use This Today)

1. Every time you see a tool, ask:

Can this solve a problem I actually have?

2. If yes, give yourself 48 hours to learn just enough to build something useful.

3. Document what you built and how you built it.

4. Share the process publicly — attract like-minded people + inbound ops.

5. Move on to the next thing — repeat until this is second nature.

It’s about turning ideas into working systems — over and over — without waiting for permission.

AI isn’t the threat.

Staying still is.

I am excited and nervous at the same time to see how the next 2 years play out in this reference.

but that’s it for today.

until next time.

-Kanishka