I recall a formative decision I made soon after starting my first job out of college. An acquaintance had asked if I would reroof his mother’s home. I spent two days pondering the decision. I had a job programming. I didn’t need to labor on roofs anymore. When the decision finally came, it was an epiphany. No way was I going to allow myself to settle into an ordinary life because it was the easy thing to do. I didn’t want to be pigeonholed, defined by my career, growing soft and specialized behind a desk. I would continue to resist specialization and stretch myself by undertaking new
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