Memories From Youth: Just Pick ONE Thing and Stick to it!

The title of this post represents advice I was repeatedly given starting in my teenage years, through graduating from university. In fact, it's advice I have heard on a few occasions since then.

I'm sure the various people who offered this advice were very well meaning, but I'm also pretty sure they had no idea what it's like to be inside my head!

As I have said from time to time — only half jokingly — I suffer from "Too Many Interests Syndrome." Or, to phrase it in a little somewhat less disparaging way, I could be considered a bit of a polymath.

I've never much liked using the word "polymath," because it invariably sounds like bragging and I just can't get it to sit right with me, for that very reason. However, it's also true that when I was in school settings well meaning counselors would say things like "oh, we'll just give you some tests to see what you have an aptitude for!"

So I'd dutifully take these aptitude and skills assessment tests.

Then the advisors would end up scratching their collective heads when it turned out that I was in the top 10% in math, science, business topics, engineering and writing. Again, I say that not to show off, but to underscore the fact that there was nothing conclusive.

What is true about these early aptitude test adventures is the fact that I realized it was more important that I pick something that I enjoyed, than something I was good at. Or ostensibly good at.

But here's where we throw in an additional wrinkle.

I don't particularly like any of these things (with the exception of creative writing), just like I don't particularly not like any of these things because almost everything sounds interesting on some level but I wouldn't want to be stuck doing them all the time!

And so, another lesson came along: Typically the things I liked best and was also good at weren't necessarily things people were willing to pay for... nor were they necessarily jobs.

Well. I'm not sure how this post is going to turn out, because none of my images are showing. So I think I'll stop here... I'm hopeful things will be OK, because there's an upload URL that shows, so maybe it's just a display gateway that is having trouble.

Thanks for reading, and have a great Friday!

How about you? Do you have a single thing you are really good at? Or are you "fairly good" at many different things? Do leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)
Created at 2023.05.25 23:58 PST
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