If the Shoe Doesn't Fit...

For the love of God don't wear it.

Take it from me, a repeat offender. I've tried way too many times to wear the wrong shoe size, buying shoes too big or too small because I loved them so much and they were so perfectly on sale and if I could just tough it out and squeeze into a half size too small or add inserts for those that were a half size too big I could just go ahead and snag them.

A few decades of sore tootsies and blistered heels later, I finally concluded that the discomfort isn't worth it. (I know... I'm a genius!) Wearing shoes that don't fit is only tolerable for about an hour- two tops-and then annoyance or pain or a combination of both sets in. It's crazy, but no matter how hard I try, I cannot mentally will the cute shoes to my size 7M foot.

Sometimes it seems as if we are raised in a world that views careers through a one-size-fits-all lens. For example, some parents might assume that since their daughter is smart and gets good grades she could become a doctor or a lawyer... or, what the heck, maybe an engineer! According to this line of thinking, they might as well assume their daughter can wear any size shoe, whether it be a size 5 or a size 10.

Call me crazy, but shouldn't we try and give career choice as much credence as our feet?

That's why I especially appreciate it when someone points out the fact that careers should be as custom-fit as possible to be really successful. David Epstein, author of the fascinating book,  The Sports Gene, has some truly interesting insight into what makes great athletes, for example. While I would hate to distill the complexity of his findings on talent into an overly simplistic nutshell like, you know, shoes sizes, I would like to share an interview between Epstein and EconTalk's Russ Roberts:

"...what sports are and should be is an attempt to get the most out of what someone's gifts are and see how they can be used uniquely. And there are not only all these different sports, but different positions within the different sports. Look at a football field. You almost have the extremes of the human physique represented on the field at one time. And I just find that to be really cool and fascinating, and a big departure from the early 20th-century idea that the average body type was the best for all endeavors and that anything that deviated from that was basically a mistake."

For the full interview, click here.

What if we thought about careers as Epstein does? Imagine a world in which all vocation choices were "an attempt to get the most out of what someone's gifts are and see how they can be used uniquely." I think the the world would run pretty smoothly and efficiently, don't you?

Especially if everyone wore shoes that actually fit.