The Myth, The Legend: One Passion to Rule Them All
March 1, 2010
Please note: This is a guest post by Amanda Farough, from VioletMinded.
For some of us, finding that one true passion is just not an option. We want to do it all.
I’ve never really been able to concentrate on one thing at a time. I’m a notorious multitasker with an apparent inability to focus. In university, people kept telling me to slow down, pick something, decide on a path. Academic advisers would preach that my future (and future earnings) depended on my finding a niche and sticking with it, at least until my mid-thirties.
I can’t tell you how many times that gave me borderline anxiety attacks.
Why should I have to stick to one (or three) paths for the rest of my life? Why can’t I do it all? Was my kindergarten teacher lulling me into a false sense of security with her speeches on how anyone can be anything?
The problem isn’t my kindergarten teacher. Or my academic advisors. The problem is with perception.
From the time we’re small we’re continuously asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?†I remember the kids from my class answering: “Firefighterâ€, “Doctorâ€, “Actorâ€, “Rockstarâ€. My teachers would look expectantly at me. My answer?
“A journalist. And I want to write a novel. And then I want to play in a band. You know, a jazz band or something. And then I want to make a video game. Oh, and then…â€
I would just continue on and on until the teacher would stop me and say, “Be serious, Amanda. You can’t want to do all that.â€
We’re told that we can be anything we want; we just can’t be everything.
In a world where specialists are highly valued, we generalists, Renaissance Men and Women, and Scanners are often mistaken for lazy, misguided, and aimless. Once we realized we were never going to find our one magic passion, we’ve thought there was something seriously wrong with us. I thought that maybe I had some kind of obscure learning disability that barred me from deciding on one thing and one thing only. Or that I had the dreaded ADD.
A Scanner’s World
Some of the most brilliant minds were many things, other than what they are best known for. Take Leonardo DaVinci, for example. He was more than just a painter: he was also a sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, botanist and writer. He was never accused of spreading himself too thin. No one walked up to him and told him, “Just choose something already! You’re wasting your life on meaningless pursuits!â€
Barbara’s book changed my life.
I found myself throwing my ideas in a journal, no longer afraid that I was going to forget anything. I was free to pursue my dreams. All of them. I didn’t even need to prioritize them. All I needed was the help of Google Calendar (or my rockin’ analog agenda) and a handy dandy egg timer. I section off a couple of hours for different activities, depending on the day. I’ll usually decide when I wake up what I want to accomplish that day. How many hours do I want to work on my business before doing some writing? Do I want to throw some leisure time in there? Perhaps somewhere in the mix I’ll want to try my hand at a different programming language. And then maybe I’ll spend an hour or two researching how to make pasta from scratch.
There are a few ways for you to keep your sanity, in the midst of this creative sugar high:
1. Store your ideas in notebooks and bindersÂ
When you have time to look at them again, you’ll be glad you did, even if it’s not for a few days/months/years/decades. And in the meantime, at least you know that they’ll be safe.
2. Lose yourself completely in whatever you’re working on
And then, once you’re done with it – once you’ve gotten what you need out of that activity, be it completion or not – put it away. Don’t feel guilty about not finishing if you don’t. Be proud that you’re capable of great things.
3. Find a scheduling system that works for you and stick with it
Make it a habit. If you want to accomplish more than one or two things during your day/week/month/year, then jot down what they are (on a calendar, on a huge piece of paper, or even on many sheets of paper) and work towards it, bit by bit. If you’re like me and you want to accomplish ten things a day, then the egg-timer/calendar system will work for you.
Don’t forget to come up for air.
Amanda Farough is a writer, web rock-star, geek, gamer, and musician. She rocks it over at VioletMinded, if you want to stop by and jam.
Have you shelved some of your passions in favor of others, or have you found a way to pursue them all? We want to hear about it!
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You’re going deep down the rabbit hole, Amanda.
You may find yourself narrowing your scope as responsibility grow, and Q4B is a perfect place for such discussion.
I could say a lot more about being a generalist, but I haven’t decided quite how to put it into words yet. When I do put it into words, I’ll talking about how you live your life as a story, and how you have to be careful of what story you want to live. Having a common theme is very helpful. Enough for now.
Dave Doolin´s last blog ..How a 9 Day Denial of Service Attack Affected Blog Traffic
Always value your opinion, Dave. Look forward to reading your thoughts on generalists, whenever it’s available to read.
I like this way of looking at it, Dave… having a common theme. We don’t have to be either specialists or generalists (uh-oh, Lisis, there are those personal labels again!). That’s my thing, then: I’m a generalist with common themes.
So here’s where I think Dave your point is actually aligned with what Amanda is saying. Scanners embrace lots of different content/subjects/pursuits in their lives, but there actually is a lot of coherence and usually a one or two themes…but they are subtle ones! They don’t show up in the ways the high school career counselor told you they should.
The connections usually shows up in what the person is doing underneath the surface level of the activity – for example, maybe across their seemingly unconnected pursuits they are always building great teams, or creating new opportunities, or bringing together two disparate ideas to synthesize them.
That’s the “work” they are consistently doing, or the the passion they are consistently following. Leonardo DaVinci was using similar processes of creavity, problem solving, and intellectual inquiry across many of his pursuits.
But in school we were taught that consistency has to show up in the content or subject matter – like being a doctor or finance person or artist for 30 years.
That’s just not how it works for a lot of people, and if they are telling themselves there is something wrong with that and resisting it, the world misses out on their brilliance and creativity!
Amanda, this is a great post – very validating and very liberating to think about scanning this way. I am a happy and fulfilled scanner, but there are moments when I just wanted my career and resume to look very linear and make sense to strangers…but hey I haven’t gone down any rabbit holes yet!
I can’t tell you how pleased I was to read this article. I’ve read Barbara’s book too and recognised myself as a ’scanner’. What I hadn’t done is made the mental jump to planning my future as a scanner. Duh! I’ve been anxious that (now I’ve retired) I have no single passion nagging to be fulfilled – after all, all those self-help sites bang on about how you have to identify the single most important thing…
I’ve read that it takes about 10,000 hours to achieve mastery of a subject or about 5 years to achieve a significant aim (like writing a book and getting it published, or restoring a house or car to showroom condition, whatever). 10,000 hours is also roughly 5 years effort so in the 20 years of average life expectancy I look forward to, I can achieve mastery of 4 subjects, or achieve 4 goals, or mix and match mastery and goals. But now I realise I can do several in parallel and give up trying to pick just one. What a relief!
Hell yes, you can do it all! Isn’t it freeing? Never let anyone (including you) limit your potential. I’m glad that this article helped you as Lisis’ helped me.
Amanda´s last blog ..Holy hot damn. I believe I was swallowed up by the Olympics.
Hey, Amanda! Thank you so much for sharing this post with us, as it is one of my favorite topics… that of Renaissance people (those of us who want to do a bit of everything). It used to be tremendously discouraging for me that I didn’t have my ONE true thing. Although I loved dancing, I never had “what it takes”. Though I was good at Math and Science classes, I thought I’d go nuts if I spent my life in a lab, or in academia. Then I loved flying, but didn’t feel it was something I should do for a living.
In other words, I dabble. There is no one thing for me at all times, just whatever I happen to be into right now. When I realized that MANY of us are like this, I suddenly realized, it isn’t a fault at all. The fact is, the world needs specialists AND generalists, so we might as well make the most of our respective roles.
Thanks for being here!!!!
You’re the inspiration for my discovery of my Renaissance Self, Lisis. You sang loud and proud about flipping off The Man and doing it all.
So thank YOU for opening my eyes to my own potential.
Amanda´s last blog ..Holy hot damn. I believe I was swallowed up by the Olympics.
Generalists are adaptable and do really well in good economic times.
Not so well in harsh times when very narrow specialties are in demand.
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[...] I wrote about it on Quest for Balance: The Myth, The Legend: One Passion to Rule Them All. [...]
This is very cool, Amanda! As a renaissance man myself, I applaud your desire to do as many things as possible. I LOVE that you’re following all of your passions, chasing ALL of your dreams. You’ve inspired me to do the same. Thanks!
Jay Schryer´s last blog ..What to Eat
Yes! I’m glad that I could point you in the right direction, Jay.
Amanda´s last blog ..Holy hot damn. I believe I was swallowed up by the Olympics.
I am SO in love with this post! People (my husband *ahem*) are always telling me to just pick one idea, focus on one thing… But when I am most myself – most creative, most lost in meditation, etc… all that happens is that I get MORE ideas! I think of myself as an idea person, and I’ve identified with the term “renaissance” for years now… So, thanks for the great post! I think I’m going to go print it off now!
Megan´s last blog ..5 Ways Lists Can Change Your Life
I’ve always heard the same thing to: settle down and pick something, damn it! It’s exhausting to be someone you’re not. Be proud and embrace your many Passions. And tell your hubby that if he needs a Scanner Significant Other Support Group, I’ll give him my husband’s email address.
Amanda´s last blog ..Holy hot damn. I believe I was swallowed up by the Olympics.
Okay, I’ll try this. I already have notebooks, binders, scraps of paper,napkins, etc. from the last forty plus years filled with poetry, quotes, doodles and ideas. Now I need the schedule and the focus. So now I need to focus on finding a scheduling system.
It really sounds like a do-able thing.
Great writing! Thank you Lisis for publishing this!
Sanford´s last blog ..LOVE IN TIMES OF STRUGGLE
Thanks Sanford! Just keeping yourself organized is a great step in the right direction. It allows you to pick up a project, set it down, and shelve it for later perusal. It’s a beautiful thing to see your life (in notebooks) on display. In fact, when you get there, I’d love to see how you’ve done it.
Amanda´s last blog ..Holy hot damn. I believe I was swallowed up by the Olympics.
Sanford, I do too.
Consequently, I don’t take notes any more.
I do, however, build checklists for repeatable activity.
Big story there.
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Hi Lisis — interesting guest post.
Amanda has given me some things to tumble around in my brain today. I always like to see how others think.
I’m a big fan of the notebook of ideas as well. It always surprises me when I look back through them and I think — wow — I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time!
Enjoy your week, everyone!
Lori´s last blog ..I Love Your Mind
Once, my sister was exasperated with me as I faced yet another career crossroads, and snapped: “The problem with you is that you’re too effing (she said the real word) good at everything, so you can’t decide.”
Kinda true, but not in an obnoxious way. I think talent has been my hamertia. Most things in my life have come easy, which means I’m an excellent beginner. I can pick up how to draw; I can pick up how to write; I can pick up how to manage projects; I can pick up softball or grasshockey or interior design…and so on. But really mastering something takes more than an innate ability to pick it up – that’s just the starting point, and the point that gives the effort fluidity.
That’s been my work in the last year: to press beyond easy, to mastery.
That being said, I’m interpreting some of what you said as being about fostering creativity. Dipping in and out of different thought streams and ways of conceptualizing is brilliant for triggering creativity and cross-synthesizing ideas.
And I think you’re right: you know who you are. You know what feeds you and how you work. You’ll find your groove.
luv ya.
Hey, Amanda. Thanks for rockin’ it at Q4B today! : )
There’s so much I could say on this topic, I’m not even sure which direction I want to take! Was going to start out talking about how school and then university becomes a sort of “funnel” for expertise, then about how there are opportunities to break out of that mold once we leave school. But then I realized that the corporate world is often just as bad or worse: the best person for the job is (almost always) the person whose resume matches it the best. So how does one EVER do anything different? (I know people who’ve been able to; it’s just not common.)
It seems the best way to change one’s career path is to take unpaid time out to retrain in other areas of interest, making sure to get resume-building experience. That’s sort of depressing, because we’re always forced to “legitimize” our pursuits. I guess it comes down to this: when someone is hiring a person for a job, they want a specialist/expert — whether it’s a technical job or not. The guy who does only woodworking is always going to be seen as more desirable for a woodworking job than a guy who does woodworking AND painting AND electrical AND plumbing AND landscaping.
So my question to you is, how do you plan to fight these perceptions in your own career? I know you have moved from software engineering to web development… but what if you want to move into baking? Or travel writing? Or phlebotomy? ; )
Thanks!
Alison | Quest for Balance´s last blog ..The Myth, The Legend: One Passion to Rule Them All
I’ve always been the kind of person to do many things at once, whether or not I get paid for it. My work as a career counselor taught me that there is no such thing as a vocational disconnect. Every skill can be transferable; it just depends on how you look at it.
For example: I’ve been a writer my whole life; I can’t dispute that. Writing has taught me the sophistication of language, how to manipulate said language in order to communicate (a story, a message, a meaning), and how to present it in such a way that the message is heard and understood.
When I leapt into software and technology, what I heard was, “WTF? Why?!” My reasoning: spoken language and written language are essential to our humanity. Software speaks a language. Software is creative. Technology communicates and allows us to communicate in a more globalized way.
So what about design?
Design is a combination of language and creative communication. You can’t just slap something together and call it design. Design MUST evoke a reaction; it doesn’t always need to be contrived but it’s not design unless it communicates.
If tomorrow I decide that I want be a baker, I will take my experiences in writing, software, and design and apply it. When I bake cookies, they’re always described as being filled with love. Therefore, my experiences in writing, software, and design helped me to communicate that love through use of reading, mathematical precision, and pretty little cupcakes with flowers on them.
There are ways to stretch this waaay beyond what I’ve said, but what’s important is that no matter what you choose (or how many you choose), it’s all related. When applying for jobs, there are ways to highlight your experiences in the field you’re applying in.
Honestly, I could go on and on about how to avoid vocational disconnect in job hunting (curse that career counselor in me) but I think that it will require a follow-up post.
I’m going to need to test these love-filled cookies of yours before I can reply to this comment.
Thanks for expanding on this, Amanda. I think this idea — that “no mater what you choose, it’s all related” — is key. People can so easily get trapped into thinking there’s just one career choice… the same choice they’ve always made. I’ve been guilty of this myself at times.
Professions and interests that may be seen as “different” are usually quite compatible and complementary. It’s all a matter of how we tell our stories… how we market our multitudes of skills. : ) Luckily, often, someone WANTS to hire a person who can do more than one thing well. It might prevent them from having to hire two people!
And you made a good point about doing many things at once, whether you get paid for them or not. Even if you get paid for doing only one thing well, if you’ve got time off, that frees you up for “everything else”! : )
Alison | Quest for Balance´s last blog ..The Myth, The Legend: One Passion to Rule Them All
you get a me, too from here. enjoy a long history of enjoying the front-end, what-if side of things, and actually, i like staying with something long enough to funnel things into an action plan, but then i’m pretty much ready to move on. kinda’ hard at this stage of my life, though, that i’m not seen as an expert on ANYthing, but hey, it’s just the kind of girl i am. and besides, if i was an expert on anything, relatives’d just wear me out wanting something. but still. and but hey.
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Um….sure. We Scanners are all “Renaissance Men” (or Women).
And we can compare ourselves to geniuses like Galileo and Leonardo da Vinci, if that makes us feel better about ourselves.
Hey…whatever works.
Hi Amanda
Great topic to talk about and unravel further. I am a big fan of following my passions, and as someone whose passions span a few different disciplines, I totally know what you are talking about here.
Can we do it all? Should we even try? Those are questions I have asked in the past. Today, I just do what feels right in the moment. I have great diversity in my life and I am happy doing many different things.
Lisis, thank you for a great guest author!
Evita´s last blog ..We Are All Evolving Beings
Amanda,
Thanks for sharing your point of view about how to follow your passions…
I find your advices very helpful, specially the third one.
I would add a fourth one though: Define a deadline for your projects.
I think that it is OK to pursue different goals at the same time provided that we are completing some!
Best regards,
Boris
Boris´s last blog ..Two halves don’t make a whole…
Interesting post and discussion. I think there’s a reason so many of the people commenting here can see themselves in the post. I have this theory that scanners/multi-topical people are drawn to web publishing. Well, drawn to the internet in general, and becoming part of it just makes sense, ya know?
Anne Moss´s last blog ..February 2010 Post Roundup
Thanks for this post. I thought it was just me. Always discovering new interests, immersing myself in them and then just as quickly losing interest and putting everything away. And yet I know that I gained something and grew from each activity. It always worried me though that I was a Jill-of-all-trades and master of none. But perhaps it is that willingness to try and experiment with different things and gather knowledge and learning simply because it makes me feel good that I am a master of.
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Like your advice about losing yourself in whatever activity you are in. When you are in the zone, let it happen and don’t worry about the time. Let your energy be your guide.
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