The Curse of Being Good at Everything
“A jack of all trades is a master of none…”
My greatest strength as a creative is also my greatest weakness…I Am interested in so many different things. When you couple that with the fact I get bored easily; it can seem like I’m always on the search for my next project.
for instance, I’m currently on the second season of my podcast. it’s been rough. the growth is there, but that excitement i felt in season one is no where to be found. It feels like a routine, it feels like a chore and I have genuinely asked myself if I will return for season three.
When you’re interested in a lot of things, it can be difficult to ever feel satisfied. But is quitting really the answer?
As I started to reflect, the first person i thought about was rihanna.
Her fans have been begging her for music for nearly five years. her response? release four brands: fenty, savage fenty, fenty beauty and now fenty skin. If you were making hit after hit for eleven years, and felt you had a unique proposition to offer in a new field, would you not want a little hiatus to explore that? I feel like the music we would have gotten in 2016-2020 would have been noticeably lacklustre, if rihanna had not explored her true passions.
however, a key thing to note is that before exploring other passions, she had made her mark. she didn’t quit after two songs, she dominated a whole field. in this time, she was still making a name for herself in fashion. She was creating looks at the met gala. She had her own show on sky living, styled to rock, which saw young designers compete to design her wireless outfit. She wasn’t rash but constantly exercising her mind in this fIEld, preparing herself for a transition that was seamless.
Key TAKEAWAys:
1) reflect - I’m an extremely dramatic person. if i always made decisions in my states of heightened emotion, my liFe would be full of regret.
2) it’s okay to have your eggs in multiple baskets - even if you have 10 eggs in one, and one egg in another. if you’re bored in your current situation, you can work on different things on the side. write a song, a poem, a play. have a mini project that trains the other aspects of your creative mind
3) breaks are important. however long? however short? as an independent creative, you are your most important fuel. if that’s running out you need to recharge.
lastly, the full quote is “A jack of all trades is a master of none…but often times better than a master of one.” being good at a lot of things is a superpower. you don’t have to exercise it all at once…but it can mean that for every season you have a unique creative outlet. you’re adaptable. you can survive past seasons. the platforms we see now such as, instagram or twitter, will not last forever… if your creativity is tied to specific situations… you may find you struggle when things suddenly change.