Opinion

Knowing a little about everything, but being good at nothing

I was really struggling with my article for this issue. Every week, or even every few days, I would have new ideas. I started by telling my editor that I was writing about "She Economy". A week later, I wanted to talk about women's sexual desire. Then I was eager to discuss "female drivers" because I just passed my driving test. In the last few days, I felt compelled to share the theme of "The role of women in history" as I was preparing for a project on the World War II trial courts.
 
As a result, I always avoided my editor when it came to discussions about my due date. At first, I thought it was because I wanted to write each article well, so I chose the topic carefully and needed to consider the content thoroughly, and thus it took some time. Sometimes I would even “beg” my editor to give me a few more days. However, I started to realize that my dilemma may have been caused by a major problem that I have had for a long time:
 
I know a little about everything, but I’m not an expert in anything.
 
I wanted to write about every topic, but after writing one paragraph, there were no more interesting things coming out of my brain. So I put it aside and waited until a few days later to check it again, and then I realized that I had completely lost interest in the previous topic. Soon I was fascinated by something new, and moved on to the next idea.
 
 This is not only the case in my writing, but also in my life: I know a little about fashion design, a little about Taekwondo, a little about video editing, and a little about fitness… But I gave up the fashion design course in the end; I stopped upgrading myself to black belt after I got my red-black belt in Taekwondo; I was satisfied with only knowing the basics of video editing; and I have paused my fitness training for a period of time…
 
I'm curious about everything at first, but I only have a three-minute passion for each of them, and then I move on to the next new thing. 
 
 Sometimes people ask me, "What is the thing you like the most or the thing that you are very good at?"
 
I can’t give an answer and in fact, I don't really have any favorite things to do or one thing that I'm really good at.
 
If you just scratch the surface of everything, then you can only stay on the surface of everything.
 
When I was young, I thought it was good to know more about things, to be able to do everything, to master a little bit of everything in work. I felt that as one person I could replace the whole army; I could make my boss happy, satisfy my clients and get to know more people. Therefore, I got the chance to socialize in different circles, join various events and receive all kinds of work projects. I thought I was powerful, popular and capable. 
 
 But over time, I began to think: The fact that I know a little about everything only allows me to stay at the door of each field. My boss likes me, but he/she only wants me to do the simplest jobs. My clients always come to me, but they only give me the least profitable duties each time. It seems like I know a lot of people, but we only say ‘Hi’ and ‘Bye’ when we see each other.
 
Knowing a little about everything allows me to enjoy the scene from different angles, but I also acknowledge the fact that the view I see now always remains at the same level. 
 
Some people may argue that there are many young modern people who are proud about being “Slash” and they are doing quite well too. So what’s the problem with knowing about everything?
 
I think people may have misunderstood the true meaning of "Slash": Being a "Slash" does not mean you can do a lot of things. The truth is that you not only manage your main job well, but you can transfer your interests into professions, being very good at them, and therefore making money out of them.
 
After you have remained at the stage of “knowing a little bit about everything” for a period of time, you start to wonder if you should choose a field to dig into, and become a master of it.
 
When we are young, we can develop a variety of interests and hobbies, which can exercise our thinking ability, and most importantly pave the way for us to find our development direction in the future. At a certain point, you begin to look for more fulfillment and improvement, and the desire for a higher point of view can drive you to focus on a certain area.
 
When we reach that moment, we need to embrace our own transformation: Instead of being satisfied with a quantitative increase in our perception of things, we look forward to qualitative change in our life even just in an event execution, a skill development, a topic study, or a field mastery.
 
If I was more like a versatile tool before, now I hope to become an expert in a certain field.
 
Diversity allows us to see the world from richer perspectives, but mastery makes us an indispensable resource in the world.
 
Have you found an area that you want to master?
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