Secret life of being a jack of all trades, master of none.
Every Jack of All Trades Master of None would agree that knowing a bit of everything has their own ups and downs. Being tagged as “All around” and having the skill and love to do multiple things at the same time, might become a negative point when being compared to a person having mastered the specific skill.
As much as it is an awesome way of getting around different fields (learning how to code, cooking delicious meals and performing on stage), juggling tasks from diverse areas can be tricky when you’re trying to choose a specific path you are going to take in the long run.
This has been my struggle growing up as I venture to many things. At school, it’s pretty easy to excel when the teacher can see that you’re good in academics and extracurricular activities. As they say it, being “well-rounded” makes you a better student and is open to wide possibilities to make use of your talents. You can also tag it as knowing how to multitask and building priorities. This continues until college and eventually to finding for work. The biggest challenge for me is, sticking to one major to get to learn more and make a living out of in college. Normal advices were to follow your dreams, find your practice, do the things that make you happy, and the most important one: be practical.
But what if you want to mix everything you’re good at into 1 course? Is that even possible? There are a lot of cases that adults go into midlife crisis or being lost in their careers because it’s pretty hard to decide just one thing when you have been in an array of skills and talents just waiting to be used as your own money maker someday.
Answering the questions “What do I really want?” Still haunts you every night as you search for your true passion. I guess being a jack of all trades, master of none isn’t so good after all. Another big question we ask is, are you really a jack of all trades? Or are you just finding an excuse for our lack of focus?
As much as we want to search for answers for these questions, one thing pretty much makes this trait great is our ability to adapt.
In the midst of all these confusion and indecisiveness, another term for multi-talented humans are now commonly accepted that is being a “multipotentialite”.
Multipotentialites are people who are known to be fluid enough to continue to learn and adapt to where they are needed. Once they love something and they want to do it, they devote at least a fraction of their time to practice it or to be good at it at some point. They take the skills that we have and make it work. The term “fake it till you make it”, definitely works on them because even if they find it so unknown and different, they have the passion and drive to get to learn it anyway. And lastly, when they merge everything that they know to do into their daily lives, they stand out.
So the next time you feel that you are going nowhere with you being a jack of all trades master of none, use the term multipotentialite, because you are somebody with many skills and possibilities that is currently preparing for your big break. Also, when you eventually find a path that can suit all your skills, master it one day at a time. Don’t put too much pressure to decide yet because as everything else in this planet, these things take time. Don’t be afraid to venture to new horizons, but don’t also forget that as much as everyone wants to try it all, you have to think about your families and your future as well.
For the people who know these multitalented individuals, it can either be a classmate, family member, co-worker or student, please don’t expect them to follow the norm and stick to one thing. Because you can use and shape his/her potential to make your task better. Think of it as cooking, they bring numerous spices and flavors to the dish that people will order and love.
