Today we went for a family hike to the same place we’ve been a couple of weeks ago. Out of the blue my wife asked me “What three things do you love most about yourself?”.
I wasn’t able to answer her. There’s nothing I actually love about myself. At least I wasn’t able to pin-point anything at that point.
I keep thinking about the question. She told me her three points and I would totally agree with all of them. All of her points about herself are true and make her a great person. However, I’m not sure if I would love those points about myself if we were in reversed roles.
Simply because I feel that my brain works differently.
You see, I’d classify myself as a jack of all trades….and master of none.
Exactly there lies the problem I think. I’m fairly knowledgeable and good in a wide variety of things but never actually specialised in one particular area. I never went all-in on that one little niche.
I can code and solve any technical issue I’ve got, but I’m by no means the best programmer around.
I can drive hundreds of thousands of visitors to my websites via Google, but I’m probably not the #1 SEO expert in the world.
Last year I made double-digit returns investing in the stock market with ease, but I’m no Warren Buffet.
In the past I’ve done the bookkeeping and accounting for several of my companies, but I’m not a certified accountant.
I’ve started multiple successful companies around the world, but I’m not of Richard Branson’s calibre.
So how can I love my SEO game, my coding, my entrepreneurial spirit or my financial know-how if I am well aware that I’m not the best in any of those areas?
The term Generalist often gets a bad reputation and I normally avoid it. I prefer jack of all trades and I actually mean it in the most positive way possible.
Years ago, when I had a conversation over lunch with a friend from my coworking space in Vilnius, he couldn’t believe that I ran my company all by myself.
How can you run tech, marketing, sales, coding, servers, content, customer care, finance, accounting, admin, … all by yourself?
Well, I’m a jack of all trades. I just know that stuff and do it. Simple.
I just always assumed that this is the normal way. People know stuff, or if they don’t then they figure out a way to learn it and execute on it. Turns out, that’s anything but normal.
It seems that jack of all trades are a rare breed of Super Humans.
Thanks blog challenge, because of you I had to find time to write all of this down and actually figure out what I love about myself during the process.
I love about myself that I’m a jack of all trades, a Super Human.
Well, and that’s my kryptonite at the same time. It’s time to learn how to deal with this super power in a responsible way. But that’s a post for another day…