Why having multiple interests is better than just one.
Increasing population necessitates the building of skill trees which are highly concentrated in one specific area of expertise. There are too many aspirants for very few jobs/research prospects, which lead to increased competitiveness to be the best in the one-specific field. Not that it is a bad thing, but it potentially leads to a lot of closed-mindedness.
Those who bring exceptional inputs in broad as well as narrow, popular as well as unpopular, difficult as well as easy fields, are almost always rewarded. Yet, the larger the population grows, the more difficult it is to really stand out. Being distinguished on a local scale may not be as difficult for some, but for people who’s ambition do not have any cap sealing the fizz, it is not enough. They will shake the bottle and make sure they break away from being contained.
“I wanna be the very best like no one ever was”- Ash Ketchum
For those who live on their passions, and have no desire to see somewhere else, perhaps have the best thing going for them. All their productive efforts and time are focussed on obtaining what they want. There is no diversion or an impulse to glance somewhere else. Their target is set. Their aim is steady.
The real challenge is for people who know what they want to do but want to try other things as well in a proper manner [1]. For every second they put into other activities, that time is lost for attaining their main goals.
So drop everything and just have a one-track mind? Not really.
The most significant advantage of pursuing other passions is that one can derive plenty of innovation for their main goal. In slow-moving industries and domains, being a specialist definitely helps.
Yet what separated the great from the good is innovation, and innovation comes from taking ideas from one place and using it in another place. The most creative people, from Da Vinci to Steve Jobs, never stuck to doing one thing. Their pursuit of multiple avenues led to the development of some of the most innovative and world-changing ideas and products.
The notion that it takes extreme specialisation to succeed is incredibly flawed. It does help to get to point A to point B faster. It, however, leads to becoming unfortunately one-dimensional.
The most interesting people which I have observed have a strong desire to know and gush about whatever they are interested in, not just their main interests, but other interests as well. Be it sports, philosophy, psychology, culture etc. Anything they like.
Because in their cases, the desire to be the best in one field is supplanted by the desire to build an amalgamation of various aspects into their being [2].
Another underrated aspect of having multiple interests is the improvement in your interactions. Now you are not just talking to people in your own field, you are sharing a cup of coffee while discussing psychology. You are now in a circle of friends bantering about football. You now discuss about what the latest bill means for you as an citizen.
And these conversations can improve to become deep discussions from just superficial talks, if you have a genuine interest and pursue it.
It is a shame that the time required for other activities is being taken away by universities having unyielding administration, jobs having militaristic deadlines and timings, and the less said about academia, the better.
But since you are alive and kicking, why not check other things out, before you kick the bucket?
[1] By other things, I mainly refer to those activities which do not have any tangible or intangible effect in supporting the main goal.
[2] Different people have different reasons to try and do as many distinctive things as they can.
