I once had six weeks to find a job or be kicked out of the country. No safety net. No fallback. So I did whatever it took — learned tools I'd never touched, pitched work I wasn't qualified for, talked to anyone who could get me there. I didn't know it then, but that pressure was building a shape.

It's only through the act of doing that you become. You can't read your way into being X-shaped. You can't workshop your way there either. You become it by being thrown into situations where you have no choice — and figuring it out anyway.