Jack of all trades, master of one
“Take a break. Relax. Breathe. You’re doing great.” — Unknown
Got an email from a site called ACADEMIA asking if I was the Steven Barnes who wrote “Proton modulation of ion channels in isolated horizontal cells of the goldfish retina.”
Well, no. But I wouldn’t mind meeting him. It would have been wonderful to have explored that academic side of my mind, to go DEEP into a subject most people have never heard of. To become, in all probability, the world’s greatest expert at something few people care about.
But…you simply don’t have time to learn everything, or do everything. What you CAN do is go deep enough into a couple of different areas, 1–3 of them, so that you grasp the nature of mastery. “Know one thing, know ten thousand things: — Musashi Miyamoto
“Once you master anything, you know how to master anything else” — Jerry Pournelle.
The “jack of all trades and master of none” can be a pretty tragic figure, stuck at low-level positions for life. But the “Jack of all trades and master of ONE” can actually be a HELL of a success if you choose the right thing to master. Ideally, it should be
- Something you enjoy
- Something you can do for life
- Something that has an active tribe of eager fans or users.
If there are thousands of other people who enjoy the same thing, then you can MONETIZE that puppy. And now you have something that you love, and will spend the time to master, that can also support you as you provide a service to your tribe.
THAT is the pattern. But what is the thing? Well, it needs to be something that will allow you to…
ESCAPE SUFFERING →EMBRACE JOY → BE OF SERVICE.
If you can monetize it, you escape pain caused by poverty. If you enjoy studying and doing it, you can be joyful. And if your commitment is to serve your community, you can actually create the happy circumstance of “the more service I give, the more money I make.”
That means you can choose something you love…and learn to monetize it. Or, you can find the thing that makes money, and if it passes the Three Gates, you need only learn to enjoy doing it.
If you are not in that position today, simply set that as a goal: “By December 31 2026, I will be in the best career position of my life, making the best money, giving the most service, and have fun in the process”
That last, “and have fun in the process” is a GREAT way to avoid burn-out, just as “gratitude” is the antidote for fear.
So find the single thing you enjoy doing, and study a shelf of marketing and sales books, and study until you figure it out.
Or, find the thing people are most willing to pay you for, and if it passes the Three Gates, learn how to have FUN doing it.
“In every job that’s to be done, there is an element of fun. Find the fun and POOF! The job’s a game!” — M. Poppins
Lets jump into this week with joy, and focus. A commitment to take at least one step on the Mastery road every day, remembering that masters are always learning, always doing, and always teaching.
There are other paths, but man…I sure love this one, and hope you do too!
Namaste
Steve