Specialization isn’t always a good thing. Photo from 1951 assembly line.
Are the days of Da Vinci dead? Is it possible to, at once, be a world-class painter, engineer, scientist, and more?
“No way. Those times are long gone. Nothing was discovered then. Now the best you can do is pick your field and master it.”
The devout specialist is fond of labeling the impetuous learner — Da Vinci and Ben Franklin being just two forgotten examples — “jack of all trades, master of none.” The chorus unites: In the modern world, it is he who specializes who survives and thrives. There is no place for Renaissance men or women. Starry-eyed amateurs.
Is it true? I don’t think so. Here are the top five reasons why being a “jack of all trades,” what I prefer to call a “generalist,” is making a comeback:
5) “Jack of all trades, master of none” is an artificial pairing.
It is entirely possible to be a jack of all trades, master of many. How? Specialists overestimate the time needed to “master” a skill and confuse “master” with “perfect.”
Generalists recognize that the 80/20 principle applies to skills: 20% of a language’s vocabulary will enable you to communicate and understand at least 80%, 20% of a dance like tango (lead and footwork) separates the novice from the pro, 20% of the moves in a sport account for 80% of the scoring, etc. Is this settling for mediocre?
Not at all. Generalists take the condensed study up to, but not beyond, the point of rapidly diminishing returns. There is perhaps a 5% comprehension difference between the focused generalist who studies Japanese systematically for 2 years vs. the specialist who studies Japanese for 10 with the lack of urgency typical of those who claim that something “takes a lifetime to learn.” Hogwash. Based on my experience and research, it is possible to become world-class in almost any skill within one year.
4) In a world of dogmatic specialists, it’s the generalist who ends up running the show.
Is the CEO a better accountant than the CFO or CPA? Was Steve Jobs a better programmer than top coders at Apple? No, but he had a broad range of skills and saw the unseen interconnectedness. As technology becomes a commodity with the democratization of information, it’s the big-picture generalists who will predict, innovate, and rise to power fastest. There is a reason military “generals” are called such.
3) Boredom is failure.
In a first-world economy where we have the physical necessities covered with even low-class income, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs drives us to need more for any measure of comparative “success.” Lack of intellectual stimulation, not superlative material wealth, is what drives us to depression and emotional bankruptcy. Generalizing and experimenting prevents this, while over-specialization guarantees it.
2) Diversity of intellectual playgrounds breeds confidence instead of fear of the unknown.
It also breeds empathy with the broadest range of human conditions and appreciation of the broadest range of human accomplishments. The alternative is the defensive xenophobia and smugness uniquely common to those whose identities are defined by their job title or single skill, which they pursue out of obligation and not enjoyment.
1) It’s more fun, in the most serious existential sense.
The jack of all trades maximizes his number of peak experiences in life and learns to enjoy the pursuit of excellence unrelated to material gain, all while finding the few things he is truly uniquely suited to dominate.
The specialist who imprisons himself in self-inflicted one-dimensionality — pursuing and impossible perfection — spends decades stagnant or making imperceptible incremental improvements while the curious generalist consistently measures improvement in quantum leaps. It is only the latter who enjoys the process of pursuing excellence.
Don’t put on experiential blinders in the name of specializing. It’s both unnecessary and crippling. Those who label you a “jack of all trades, master of none” are seldom satisfied with themselves.
Why take their advice?
Here is a description of the incredible Alfred Lee Loomis, a generalist of the highest order who changed the course of World War II with his private science experiments, here taken from the incredible portrait of his life, Tuxedo Park:
Loomis did not conform to the conventional measure of a great scientist. He was too complex to categorize — financier, philanthropist, society figure, physicist, inventor, amateur, dilettante — a contradiction in terms.
Be too complex to categorize.
Look far and wide. There are worlds to conquer.
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Finally, vindication for someone who has always struggled with being a jack-of-all-trades by nature. Musician, engineer, programmer, technician,mechanic, wood worker, welder, painter, teacher, leader, speaker.
I would also add a sixth reason: it will make you more secure. We live in a volatile society where things change fast, oftentimes faster than we are able to process them. If you specialize in one thing, you doom yourself to failure and poverty, perhaps worse, in the almost inevitable event that your chosen field goes by the wayside. Trust me. I've been there, and I generalize now because I don't ever want it to happen again.
Great read. I have always considered myself a jack of all trades, and was discouraged by many to thinking that was bad. I enjoy it, i have had jobs in so many fields, work with many different experts, and learned so much. I think after a couple years, I get bored and want to learn something new. I have worked in mortgages to forklift driving,and so many mkre in between. I love it. I believe all these skills is culminating into a big bang of awesomeness for.myself,family, and helping others. Thanks for the article. Have a beautiful week.
Small article but so many memorable notes and quotes. 'Be too complex to categorize…' That has been my credo in my business life and some cannot understand it. It has worked. Thanks Tim yet again!
"Above all else, the mentat must be a generalist, not a specialist. It is wise to have decisions of great moment monitored by generalists. Experts and specialists lead you quickly into chaos. They are a source of useless nit-picking, the ferocious quibble over a comma. The mentat-generalist, on the other hand, should bring decision-making a healthy common sense. He must not cut himself off from the broad sweep of what is happening in his universe. He must remain capable of saying: 'There's no real mystery about this at the moment. This is what we want now. It may prove wrong later, but we'll correct that when we come to it.' The mentat-generalist must understand that anything which we can identify as our universe is merely part of larger phenomena. But the expert looks backward; he looks into the narrow standards of his own specialty. The generalist looks outward; he looks for living principles, knowing full well that such principles change, that they develop. It is to the characteristics of change itself that the mentat-generalist must look. There can be no permanent catalogue of such change, no handbook or manual. You must look at it with as few preconceptions as possible, asking yourself: 'Now what is this thing doing?'" — Frank Herbert, Children of Dune
I learned to code and got a job coding for a fortune 500 company at 32 years old because the oil industry collapsed. I can make beer, wine, mead, and even run a still. I'm learning to weld and play guitar as well. I've managed a small business, done lots of selling, worked in retail, as a bouncer and I've been able to catch fish almost everywhere I've lived or vacationed. I can solve some simple physics and calculus problems, never did pick up chemistry or memorize much biology. I think the original saying was actually "jack of all trades, master of one". My first software manager used to encourage me to be T shaped with my tech skills. To become an expert front end or even an expert at one front end framework, but learn a little bit about everything else would be an example. I think that's a good approach. Tim has done this. Tim is a master content producer. He made more money writing a book about running a supplement company (4 hour work week) than he did running a supplement company (I don't remember the name, I haven't read the book in a while). So he knows a lot about many subjects, but he makes a living as a master connect creator. I've been following Tim since I was in my 20's and really did not believe it could be possible for someone to learn enough about something to be able to useful in just a year or two. After all, I had been in school for 13 years and college for 4 years and was not gainfully employable. I did lots of jobs that don't require any special credentials or experience (mostly commission sales jobs, some labor too), before finally making a significant income working in the oil industry. After a few years, the oil industry collapsed and I found myself broke again. Working another dead end, low pay, low skill job. I really wanted to get back in to 6 figure income territory. It was pretty nice to go grocery shopping without a budget, drive a reliable vehicle and go to the doctor when I wasn't feeling well. I barely made enough money to pay the bills and I was only working 50 hours a week so I had plenty of freetime. I looked around and decided that if I could learn to code, I might have a shot at making a decent living again. I started studying in all of my freetime, took community college classes, went to an online code camp and applied for coding jobs every day (no, I wasn't qualified but I was desperate!). Over about two years I learned enough to pass an interview, which wasn't very much, I learned more in the first 6 months of working than in the previous two years. Now, just over 2 years in to coding for a living, I've got code in production on and am even running code deployments to a massive finance companies website. I've got a lot to learn, but in becoming a master software engineer, and a "jack" of many other "trades" as well. My point is, I doubt that many people are smart enough or have enough freetime to master more than one or two things. And nobody should intentionally avoid mastering something, or putting more than a year in to learning something. In my life, the effective strategy for me has been to learn at least one thing well enough to make a living at it, whether your'e a coder, a content producer, or something else, you've got to learn at least one thing well enough to make enough money to cover your basic needs and have some time and money left so you can learn a little bit about wide range of other things. But its unlikely that you'll make money from the other things. You just won't be good enough at them to be useful to anyone. Unless you're a content producer like Tim. Don't shy away from mastering at least one thing. Two would probably be better. Mastering one thing doesn't mean that you can't also learn other things, it just means that you might be able to make a decent living in the meantime. Ultimately, that's what really Tim did. He's not really that complex, not even too complex to categorize, he mastered and got rich by producing content. Now he has enough money and freetime for lots of hobbies.
Dear Tim, I fucking love this. It is so validating and just what I needed to hear right now. Thanks for this and all you do, you're generosity with your ideas has helped so many.
i realy like this article, and i also feel the same about "jack of all trades". If you work ore spend time with these kind of people, you will notice that this is a person who knows things about almost everything. They are often openminded and knows who to "call" to get things done.
Well… while you CAN master a profession/trait in a "short" time, I'd not agree with the definition of mastery and the time needed. Where I'm coming from: I'm 44. I studied microelectronics for 4 years, practiced it for a while and was able to fix microelectronics problems on laptops that few people know. It came after many years of study. I then shifted to computer networks. Spend another few years learning that, and while you can get up to speed in a relatively short time, you're by no measure "a master" after a year. Junior network technician at best. Then got into mechanical engineering. MY GOD that's a crazy field. There's no way anyone would dare to claim mastery after a year. After the financial meltdown in 2008, I switched to development, specifically web dev. Yes you can get up and running fairly quickly, but mastery after a year is a wet dream of the lazy ones. Now, some 10 years in digital marketing, I see the clergy of "one-year mastery" ideology, and get to heal their victims of wannabe expertise. While being an acute generalist, I'd say it takes at least 3-4 years in a field to gain any formidable volume of knowledge. No wonder university programs last that long. Knowing a bunch of stuff is one thing. Taking the time for neuroplasticity and neurogenesis to play their course around a subject mater is a different thing. But it's THIS thing that's required for a person to claim mastery. It's what happens to a person when they start seeing the world through the eyes of an engineer, or a marketer, or an economist etc. That being said, kudos on keeping this old blog post alive through social media marketing. Excellent way to extend the shelf life for another year or two.
Thank you as always Tim. You have no idea how your content has helped me. Your content has exposed me to the content of equally great humans like Naval, and I’m definitely better for it as a human. Cheers, wishing you a long life in great health, wealth, peace of mind and wisdom. With love from 🇳🇬.
Exceptional word crafting – short, spicy and provocative. Mahalo nui, for my renaissance ambitions are soothed by your satisfying rhetoric.
I have always struggled with my javk of all trades personality. I am a n avb techie by profession, bug I love reading, craft, learning languages, cleaning.. dancingI always thought one needed to be a perfectionist in one field to succeeded and my multiple talents made only a jack. This article gives me hope
Well, that was a fascinating read. Thank you for sharing your perspective, which changed mine. I've always, almost apologetically, explained my propensity to go wide instead of deep. I truly admire those who master "something" and have felt that it's a weakness to continuously pursue new experiences, skills, and other stuff instead of mastering one. But perhaps that's my strength. Muchas gracias.
I am damn bored as a jack of all trades. In school I was a poor student till the subjects got really difficult and then I shined. as a "JOAT" I just cant go deep enough to really enjoy myself. I have been an Engineer for over 30yrs. Worst choice ever in my opinion.
To be clear, I'm a big fan, bought and read all the books, listen to the podcast a lot and agree in general with the idea of knowing enough about a wider range of things, I just think that it's also important to be T shaped. Be an expert at something, never stop getting better at that thing, but also take time to learn about other things.