Cross-discipline learning

We want to be the best in our field. To get to the top it's typically expected that we will put all of our energy into it. That we will single-mindedly focus on developing and practising the specific skills relevant to success in that field. That our inspiration and role models are those already at the top of said discipline. 

This is perhaps best illustrated with sports. We imagine a top tennis or football player as a child practising the same shots over and over, day and night, to develop their craft. When these stars are asked about their childhood heroes, they typically say the person that dominated their own sport when they were children.

But when we look for success in our own lives, there is a lot to be learned from those in other fields, even if completely different to our own. Looking outside our field can boost success inside of it.

Cross-discipline learning

Behavioural science, the field I work in, has found success and provided value in large part due to its interdisciplinary nature. By going beyond just the fusion of economics and psychology and incorporating ideas, learnings and methodologies from a myriad of fields such as neuroscience, sociology and anthropology, we have developed a better understanding of human behaviour. 

By looking across disciplines when tackling problems, we widen the pool of knowledge we can draw upon and possibly gain a broader perspective that may improve our end solution. Even learnings from disparate fields can transfer over in ways that enhance our approach. Think of engineering solutions which take inspiration from nature. 

I'm a huge fan of formula one, a sport which is all about marginal gains, where tenths, hundredths and even thousandths of a second have meaningful impacts on success. I've been taking learnings from it into my own career, breaking problems down into much smaller chunks than before to increase efficiency. When writing a behavioural finance article at work I map out all the paragraph headers and then dedicate short bursts to write each one separately, whereas before I might have just split the article into two or three parts and had longer writing sessions. By making the individual time slots shorter and more numerous, I am able to be more focussed and efficient with my time.

Implementation idea

If you're stuck on a problem, take some time out this week to look outside of the constraints of the field in question. Think about learnings you can take from other disciplines you are involved in.

Alternatively just explore something new, even if you can't see any obvious links. By virtue of the activity being totally new and different you may be more open and receptive to learnings you can take from it, as you are not going in with preconceived ideas or beliefs.

You may activate parts of the brain that allow you to draw links and more effectively solve problems.

Best, Alex Joshi