Do things youre unqualified for, and dont be afraid to try something new

Having been in the workforce now for a while, I can tell you that this is excellent advice. Famous physicist Freeman Dyson has it down:

Advice to people at the beginning of their careers: do not imagine that you have to know everything before you can do anything. My own best work was done when I was most ignorant. Grab every opportunity to take responsibility and do things for which you are unqualified.

Advice to people at the middle of their careers: do not be afraid to switch careers and try something new. As my friend the physicist Leo Szilard said (number nine in his list of ten commandments): “Do your work for six years; but in the seventh, go into solitude or among strangers, so that the memory of your friends does not hinder you from being what you have become.”

From More Intelligent Life, by way of garry’s /sub/posterous.