Make Connections!

My educational background is pretty scattered (my undergrad was in the sciences, and my graduate degrees are in humanities and English), so I sometimes wonder if I’ve hamstrung myself as far as the sort of work I can do.

Certainly, being a generalist rather than a specialist can be restrictive, but I was really happy to read a talk that Greg Jones, professor of theology at Duke Divinity and senior strategist for Leadership Education at Duke University gave to a room full of middle schoolers, encouraging them – among other things – to find connections between ideas that don’t immediately seem to have anything to do with one another:

If your inclination is in the sciences, spend time figuring out the links to the humanities. If you love to read novels, spend time looking at the brain and what neuroscience is telling us about the connections of emotions and the mind. Whatever your vocation, find ways to connect.