At the presenters’ Q&A in Long Beach a few weekends ago, one of the questions posed to me (as the “young guy”) was “how did you get to where you are at such a young age?”

I gave a response about getting my 10,000 hours (Outliers reference)in early in my career thanks to some chance occurences that worked in my favor as well as some excellent opportunities to surround myself with very bright people.  And, of course, I’m a workaholic, so I put a lot of time toward these opportunities.  Mike Boyle referred to me as the “Doogie Howser” of the industry, and I can say that a lot of this comes more easily to me just because I love it so much.

However, after the roundtable wrapped up, my fiancee and I got to chatting about the question at dinner that night about how I am so incredibly “niched”  and specialized in my chosen field that it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m where I am today.  I mean, I…

a) don’t know how to drive a manual transmission
b) am an average cook (at best) and let Anna do all the grocery shopping
c) don’t manage my own brokerage account or IRA or do my own taxes
d) always seem to gash myself on the shins every time I try to empty the dishwasher
e) have put off using my new laptop for three months because I haven’t had time to learn the subtle changes that went into effect with Microsoft Office 2007 (I have 2000 now)

Homer Simpson once said, “How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?”

I think he kind of hit the nail on the head.  Luckily, it seems to be working out okay for me…