Let's talk about your bubbles

I am privileged to have co-operative education students. I really believe that. I think co-op programs are incredibly valuable for the students, the companies that employ them, and the teammates they work with. It's that last one I'd like to gush about for just a second.

Students aren't expected to know everything. They learn so quickly on the job it's incredible to watch. They bring questions and fresh perspectives as well. These are the things that lead to interactions you likely wouldn't have if you didn't have their open minds on your team.

I was having a conversation with my coops yesterday, and it led me to frame a concept in my mind that I think I've had for a long time but I hadn't succinctly articulated until just at that moment. Many of you are probably familiar with the clarity that comes when you're trying to explain concepts to someone else. Teachable moments teach you as much as they do the person you may be instructing. This is why I love having students around; they're voracious learners and provide learning opportunities for everyone around them.

The concept in question was your ability to grow in your capacity to do things. Everyone starts with a very limited capacity to handle new things, new problems, or challenges they haven't yet had to face. In that context, I described it as a bubble. Your bubble. Things within that bubble are things you are comfortable doing. You've probably done them before or for whatever reason it wouldn't stress you out if you someone were to ask you to do it. Your bubble starts small naturally and grows as you do. The more courses you take, the more challenges you conquer, the larger your bubble grows.

Now let's talk about your challenges. Let's call each new challenge its own bubble. Maybe that challenge bubble fits inside of your capacity bubble. If it does, then you probably just accept the challenge and get it done. But what happens when it doesn't? You have to grow right? You need to get better! You need to learn! You have to be more than what you were!

I say Yes!*, and the asterisk isn't a typo. You should learn. You should grow. You should want to expand your bubble. The thirst to be better than yesterday is something you hopefully have. Now, let's take a moment to acknowledge mental health. You don't need to be a fanatic. Some days you just aren't feeling it and that's totally fine. You're just working on a different bubble that day. Don't ever neglect your mental health bubble. It is the most important bubble you have and an inseparable part of every other bubble you have including your capacity to handle challenges. If you haven't spent time on yourself lately, do so.

Back to the other bubble, you have a lot of freedom to choose how you want to grow it. I often describe to people that when I was a developer and choosing tasks, I would take the one I knew the least about. I would intentionally choose the one that was the most uncomfortable for me to take because it would teach me the most. It would grow my bubble in the most effective way for me (your mileage may vary).

I was scared of failure. I was scared of embarrassing myself. I was all of those things you are feeling when you take on new tasks you aren't sure you can do. And I did fail. And I did embarrass myself, though perhaps other people noticed it a lot less than I did. I had a moment early on in my career when someone gave me a challenge and I was too afraid to do it, so I didn't. It eventually got assigned to someone else. That was the only time I've ever truly failed. I remember that all the time and it motivates me to not do that again.

Now that I'm a manager, I still take on things I don't know how to do. All the time in fact. But I learn and grow.

* The key message to this post is not about growing your bubble. You absolutely should, but that will not bring you success. You will find challenges that dwarf your bubble and no achievable bubble expansion can fix that. You have to learn another key skill, which is the ability to cut challenges down to size to fit within your capacity bubble.

I think people overemphasize the need for personal growth to rise to challenges. I think that's not sustainable nor frankly is it the right perspective. I think that to succeed, you have to know how to cut challenges down to fit your capacity. Everyone has a different bubble. Yours may be big, it may not be, but it's the best you can do and you should be comfortable with it. A good strategy will overcome tremendous but unfocused ability. I'm sure that's not the first time you've heard that before.

This is how workplaces succeed. They might want to hire people with the largest possible bubbles, but it's pretty hard to measure bubbles at an interview stage. Regardless, no matter who they hire there will always be challenges larger than any one person's bubble.

It is a critical life skill to know how to reduce problems to a manageable size.

At some point, your bubble growth will have diminishing returns. You can put a huge effort into growing your capacity but only become a little more capable than you were before. No matter your own bubble size, you can do anything if you know how to make it all fit in your bubble. A sink full of water won't disappear in an instant once the drain plug is pulled, but it will eventually drain over time. This is what you have to learn. Take any problem and break it down into manageable parts that you can complete over time. Who knew that washing dishes would teach you what you need to know to succeed against any challenge?

Grow your bubble! But know your bubble all the more, and know how to make anything fit into it.