specialization is for insects

A friend attributed that quote to Isaac Asimov. Being the scholar I am, I made no attempt to confirm that it is actually his, but I’m sure that he’d agree with it. He was a scientist, writer, thinker, and debater. And probably a good lover, too, seeing as how he could juggle all of that.

And juggling is the name of the game. No one is best off concentrating all of their efforts into one area. Imagine what I’m doing; writing, as a singular drive and effort. All I could possibly write about is trying to write and the experience of writing. That might be fun for just about 2 sentences(I had fun anyway), but pretty damn boring for any longer. Any other profession, trade or hobby should be one in many.

Just as a patio layer has a better idea about how to lift bluestone if he learned to clean and jerk(focus here!) at his local gym, a writer would have a better rhythm to his writing if he is keen on music. These are just 2 examples of the cross-pollination you could observe in any successful person.

This is inspired by my former disposition. I was afraid to work on more than one thing at a time. It sounds strange now. I thought that cross-pollination would ultimately be cross-contamination. Not only did I assume my work would suffer, I thought that I would somehow be unable to simultaneously hold a talent for more than one thing at a time. Through judicious and disciplined discovery, I found that the opposite was true.

So try everything you ever thought you could do. You’ll surprise yourself. Believe me, you have to do something really great to attain sideburns like Asimov.