Jack of All Trades, Master of None

Is being a jack of all trades and master of none a boon or a curse? Well, I think it depends. It depends upon what your goals are and what field you are in. It's completely based on individual experiences. And I'm here to share my personal opinion on being a jack of all trades but a master of none, based on my own experience so far.

First of all, I'm not completely sure if I fit into the definition of "Jack of All Trades". However, I assume that my kind of situation can be referred to as a situation of being a jack of all trades but master of none. Well, I have some fundamental knowledge on a multiple skills but I'm not good enough at them to make a good living out of any of those skills. And it's kind of annoying to know the fact that you are good at so many things, yet you can't make good use of any of your skills.

As a child, I always said I wanted to be an artist whenever teachers asked what my ambition was. By artist, I meant an artist who could draw and paint. And I was good at drawing. So, I had no confusion about what I wanted to become - until I got introduced to a musical instrument: the guitar. I started learning to play the guitar. And by the time I bought a guitar, I also had a mini keyboard. And I knew how to play some easy melodies on the keyboard. So, I would play the instruments and sing. Well, it was not just the instruments I was interested in. I liked singing very much. And I should mention that I was not away from childhood ambition too. I still did many drawings.

Well, being enthusiastic about singing, musical instruments and drawing was already enough to make my mind confused (Well, I forgot to mention that I also played the flute, and I guess I wasn't too bad at it). It got twisted even more when I entered the world of computers. First of all, being able to type fast was so cool. Moreover, I got familiar to graphic design. Being passionate about art, I found graphic design so intriguing. I could draw anything and create things I couldn't create with pencil and paper. Furthermore, I grew more interest for computer technology and I found it fascinating to know how computer system worked. I learned a little bit of web design and some very basic stuffs on coding.

Now, you can probably imagine where I was going. Yes, I was everywhere. And you know it very well that when you are everywhere, you end up being nowhere. I couldn't stop drawing and painting. And of course, it's too hard to quit music. When the world is being so much technology-driven, being away from computer is even harder. And one thing I haven't mentioned yet is my study. My field of study has been totally different from all the things I mentioned earlier. I studied language and literature. And although it could help me become creative in writing songs and poems, professionally, it wouldn't complement the other fields I was interested in. So, yes, I was totally messed up.

Well, if you think I already messed it up, then be patient. It's just the superficial part. You need to see some more mess. Till now, what I told you is just about how confusing it was to make a choice among singing, playing musical instruments, drawing, graphic design, web design and literature. If it was the only problem, then I would have chosen a path and pursued it as my career. However, it's not that simple. Let me illustrate further. Suppose, I chose to be an artist. I decided that I would be doing awesome drawings and paintings. But it's not that simple. I would have to decide what kind of artist I wanted to become.  Drawing everything completely with pencil is one thing, and making colourful paintings is another thing. If I chose to do paintings, then I had to choose the medium - water colour, acrylic paint or oil paint. Let's say I chose one. Now, the problem comes while choosing the form of art. I could become a portrait artist, a landscape artist or a still life artist, or there could be more options like illustrator, character designer, concept artist and more. So, I guess now you understand that the decision of becoming an artist is not as simple as it sounds. But the problem doesn't lie in the fact that there are lots of options. But the real problem is that I always end up trying out all the options. Well, it's not just a hypothetical situation. I have ACTUALLY been through this situation. I tried all forms of drawings and paintings. I learned multiple musical instruments. I learned different computer programmes. I tried to read all genres of literature. But it wasn't a big issue, until I realized the fact that we all get a limited lifetime. I'm thirsty for knowledge but I need to remind myself that I cannot learn everything and be good at them. But I realized it quite late. I tried so many things. So, I could not master any of those skills.

Well, not everyone's case is the same. Some people know 3 or 4 skills and they are really good at them. That being said, if you try to learn more than a dozen of skills, you might end up being jack of all but master of none, or not even a jack, probably less than that, like me.

Again, it completely depends on personal experiences. Nevertheless, my experience with endeavouring to become a jack of all and master of none has not been that good.

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