People Who Do More Than One Thing Aren’t Necessarily Generalists
An open conversation of mostly questions
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Today, I want to talk about generalists.
The ones who do everything, generally, and no one thing specifically. I suppose that’s the best way to put it.
Doing everything seems to be trending, the more I peek around the internet, and here I was, thinking my newsletter was one of the few on this very niche topic of everythingness… It seems that many jacks of all trades have arrived at this conclusion, and are riding the wave of the same niche.
No problem, the wave is big enough for us all.
But the whole thing does get me thinking: what even is a generalist?
While being competent in many things is actually a great skill to have in today’s market—which forces you to wear several hats even if you are a specialist—there is still an undertone of pressure to niche down.
It makes sense if you think about it. How are people supposed to find you and your work, or what you’re selling, if you aren’t clear about what that is?
Oh yeah, I sell shoes, but also I’m a vet, I can read your palm, help you meal plan, and do your finances.
Would you invest in this person’s services? Or would you look to someone who has expertise and is selling one of these services very well as their niche?
It all comes down to trust.
Do we trust a generalist, or do we trust an expert?
And more importantly, can one person be both of these things?
While I talk about doing everything, I don’t literally mean everything. I am a liar. This newsletter is a liar. No, just kidding, hear me out.
Trying a bit of this and that is not a bad thing. It’s a process to help you understand what you enjoy, what you’re good at, and what serves the purpose you want to pursue. I yap more about this in a previous letter:
Things aren’t linear anymore. They never were, really, but now more than ever, in the workplace specifically, variation and adaptability are what take you places. That doesn’t mean you’re literally doing everything, it just means you don’t have to be so fixed on one niche to make it somewhere (anywhere!) in life anymore. Which is great for people who aren’t fixed on one niche alone.
Okay, nice.
So does that mean you’re a generalist because you don’t sing to the song of one single niche?
Can you not be very good at more than one thing? Or does mastering a skill mean only choosing one?
I suppose it depends on what skill we’re talking about… like if you want to be the absolute best violinist there is, or dominate any other musical instrument for that matter, I’d say you really do have to double down on the hours to master the skill, and an unhealthy dose of tunnel vision is necessary for masterhood.
But what about writing? Can you not be a skilled writer and cook? Or public speaker? Or artist? Or musician?
Look at Leonardo Da Vinci, an absolute wizard in art, science, engineering, anatomy, and architecture. Or any number of fantastic singers and actors, or writers and teachers, or sailors and business owners.
Are skills mutually exclusive? Are some skills harder to coordinate than others?
What does it take to master a skill? Where does it begin, and where does it end?
And what about talent? Do some people need to take more time to master a skill that other people possess more naturally?
And because I’m on an open-ended question roll here, what about multidisciplinary thinking? Like when maths was not separate from philosophy, and life made more sense?
Is there space to excel at more than one thing in our niche-obsessed world? What if I am a shoe for a while, but then decide I want to be a hat?
I have many questions, it seems.
I will calm down with them now, and instead ask you some more questions, that aren’t mine, but belong to a Brooklyn-based cook I extremely love to follow, both here on Substack and on Instagram, and in her cookbook.
“In content-machine culture, a jack of all trades is rewarded the most, but the work of the people who only do one thing is usually the best (obviously). The paradox is do you want amazing work that doesn’t get seen, or medium work where you can do it all. This is not a new concept but it feels exceedingly relevant as I see people in all fields pushed to adapt to all kinds of skill sets. If you have personal experience in your industry with this, let me know because I love diving into what “expertise” now means, and I wonder if the time and space for expertise is now a luxury.”
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To answer your question(s) Justine, I suck at a lot of the things I have to do as a freelancer. Mainly marketing myself, and anything very social media related. There are a lot of things I’d rather not have to do so that I can focus my time on improving my skills in the (fewer) things that I do do well. (Apologies for the dodo in there). Still, I do think people can be excellent in two or three things, and not just one. I don’t mean me personally, just in this life in general. Certain fields or skills are transferable and bleed well into each other. Others do not. And others require tunnel vision focus to master.
So I guess, I have no real answer to your questions, but I really enjoyed the questions. Food for thought, for while I am chewing on the food you skilfully taught me to cook!
If anyone has any more answers or questions, please send them over, generally or specifically. I want them all.
And oddly enough if you are good at more than one thing and master of none you feel inferior to the one man show type. Why is that?