Start by going horizontal in life, then go vertical.

Horizontal = breadth

Vertical = depth

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When we go to a supermarket, we take a stroll to see where things are placed.

We try understanding the blueprint of the supermarket.

This is our breadth. This is where we are gathering information.

Once we see what we actually want, we enter that particular aisle. This is depth.

We go deep into the aisle. We find the product we want, look for offers, compare it with other products, find the cheaper one, read the nutritional value labels, etc.

Basically, we get into the nitty-gritty of things.

In a similar way, everything you know, everything you are capable of right now, is breadth.

When you start horizontal, you gather information across the full breadth of the topic.

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But have you ever heard the phrase “spread too thin”?

It means, we try to do a lot of different things at the same time, with the result that we cannot do any of them properly.

We say yes to everyone and then we let them down. Our quality of delivering things worsens.

So what do we do ?

We do one thing properly.

We go deep.

Let me illustrate this:

Each circle on the breadth axis is one thing we know to do in an average manner.

But this only makes us average. We want to be better than others. We want to get more promotions. We want more money.

To achieve this, we need to pick one circle from the breadth axis and go deep.

We go vertical.

We need to be on the depth axis of the illustration.

And we do this by building a specific set of skills.

Focus on one thing and keep iterating on it.

This is how a moat is built and competition is erased.

Seneca said it well – "He who is everywhere is nowhere."

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Here’s an illustration to spark your intellectual curiosity this week.

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." — Vincent Van Gogh