“Jack of all trades, master of none, though often better than a master of one.” — Adam Savage
I’m sure you didn’t realize that was the entire quote. I’m curious as to why this quote is always cut. When did it become an insult?
Life is a journey of discovery. You gain new knowledge. You unlearn old habits and reacquaint yourself with forgotten ones.
Why isn’t this the case with skill acquisition? Is it really enough to learn just one skill?
There is a lot going on in current times. The distribution of material wealth is no longer set from paycheck to paycheck. People sell, invest, and a ton of money comes in.
So, how did those individuals get themselves there? They picked up new talents. It may be leadership, marketing, writing, or any other skill, but they learned and developed skills(emphasis on the ‘s’)
Why then do gurus advise people to focus on only one skill? It’s something you see all the time.
On the internet, people preach that others should learn one high-paying talent. Change your life by learning to code. Learn to write and transform your life. And without a doubt, they are correct. These folks seem to be leaving out a ton of information though.
A skill can transform your life, but if one has that much of an influence, what about two or three?
The internet tells you: Your’e too old to learn something new
Wrong!
It is never too late to learn a new talent. I acknowledge that studying at a latter age can be difficult and time demanding, but that does not rule out the possibility.
So, why should you learn many skills? There are a plethora of reasons why to but I’ll focus on these five
- Knowledge
- Flexibility
- Resourceful
- Reach
- Money
Let’s break them down one by one.
Knowledge
Learning a lot of different topics exposes you to a lot of different things. You are exposed to various views, thoughts, and concepts.
Knowing more puts you ahead of your peers in an ever-expanding world. The sharpest kid in a class of 30 is always the teacher’s favorite simply because he/she knows more.
B.B. King once said, “The lovely thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”
This is a universal truth: knowledge is power. Wisdom is the proper use of that knowledge.
Here’s an illustration. You work as a programmer. You’re minimally good at Web 2. But there a problem: new technologies. Web 3 is now all over the world. You must educate yourself. You publish your work on the internet. You begin to receive phone calls from businesses. You’re hired. You made a change, a skillset change.
Flexibility
If you’re familiar with pumpkin stems, you’ll recognize this: They aren’t readily broken. You can twist and scrounge them to your heart’s content, but they won’t break (unless you bring a knife). There’s a lot of leeway there.
You should be able to adapt in a different situation, and multiple learning provides you that advantage.
For example, you may have exceptional coding and writing abilities. This may provide you with more opportunities in the workplace. Who wants to be known as a one-hit wonder?
Resourcefulness
Who doesn’t like someone who is creative? Creativity breeds resourcefulness. It is a skill, not a talent, contrary to popular belief.
Adapting and manipulating different environments, as well as pooling insights from your well of knowledge, will be child’s play for you.
In the case of my intelligent student above, their depth of information offers them an advantage over others. They may readily use their wealth in times of difficulty, demonstrating resourcefulness.
Reach
Skills comes with knowledge. Knowledge equates to power. With power comes the ability to influence others.
Everyone has a problem that needs to be addressed. Your answer to such issues allows you to reach out to others and create influence.
In this digital age, having an audience is very important.
Consider the following scenario: Every day, you see new tweets on Twitter. You’ll notice these characteristics if you’ve done your homework: major account owners have these skills: networking, writing, content development, and creativity.
They’ve managed to create an asset with these (an audience that easily buys into their ideas). This leads to the ultimate goal of having such- money
Money
It’s pointless to have skills if you don’t have the frosting on the cake. You will make more money if you combine your expertise, flexibility, resourcefulness, and reach.
Why? You stand out in a world of social engineering. The advantage of mastering numerous skills is this: Since you solve problems, other people will come to your doorstep.
And even better, you don’t have to be an expert in any of the skills you acquire. Sufficient knowledge is enough. All you have to do is outperform your client by a significant margin. If you already have some skills and seek to maximise profit off them, I have something for you here. Remember, an ant sees a beetle as a god.
That’s all folks. I hope you got value from this. P.S. Drop your comments on experiences gained in learning new skills. You can connect with me on Whatsapp
Thank you for reading!
