Why Being Jack Of All Trades Is Way Better Than Master of One For Creatives

Don’t try to find your Passion. It’s a hoax!

In my late teens, right before I was about to get into college, my entire family of eight people sat and expressed their disappointment in me. The reason was that I didn’t know what I wanted to do in my life.

Looking back at it, I think that’s perfectly natural. Today, I’m in my early 30s and still unsure of what I want to do. I think that is perfectly natural too.

I don’t know what’s the perfect age to know what you want from life. However, I’ve seen people being confused at the age of 60 too (it’s a generic age in India when most people take retirement and then spend the rest of their lives in confusion because they didn’t think it through while doing their 9–5, that one day when they will have no job, they’ll lose interest in everything).

Coming to the point, I think that rushing into finding your passion early in your life can be a risky proposition. People change their area of work at all ages, especially, when they recognize the wisdom of not caring what other people think.

Finding Your Passion at a Young Age Is a Risky Proposition.

It’s like getting married at an age when you are alien to the idea of commitment and responsibility — which results in feeling “stuck.”

In our 20s, we should ideally spend as much time as possible, just trying different activities — without any fear of failure, preconceived notions, and expectations of massive results.

The Latin origin of passion is “pati,” meaning “ to suffer.”

Explore With Uninhibition.

Exploration, rather than passion, must be key in our 20s.

You need to go and make as many mistakes, and experience as many adventures as possible.

If you restrict yourself to one passion that you want to pursue at an early age, you’re restricting your growth and your self-identity to the result of that chosen pursuit.

Rather, you need to have multiple passions and then, decide, which one of them makes you feel like “I was just having fun. Wait! What? Someone’s going to pay me to do this?”

Think of this as getting into a relationship! Do you just meet a person and commit to a relationship? No, right? We need to keep meeting people, figure out that connection, both emotional and physical, and then with time, get into a relationship.

Similar is the case with finding your passion — We need to try several things, find our connection, both emotional and financial (I’d add spiritual/ mental as well), and then commit to that passion.

If you explore enough, you don’t have to find your passion. It will find you.

What’s Creativity Got To Do With This?

When it comes to creative pursuits, you need to be open to receiving anything and everything and have the capacity to consider it. Ever heard of the phrase “There are no bad ideas!”?

Imagine, you have chosen to be a writer — that doesn’t mean, you keep yourself in a cocoon and just keep writing. Take interest in all forms of storytelling — movies, comic books, graphic novels, and even podcasts (just to name a few).

Sure, you have decided that writing is your calling, but when you try your hand at these other forms, it opens up your mind. It teaches you that there’s more to the world than just writing.

The most harmful thing you can do is commit to a passion and let it kill you.

Your passion is a part of your life, not your entire life. And this detachment is what will be your biggest support system when you create great work.

Get Out of the Box.

I hate it when people say — Hey! I thought you were a writer, why are directing a short film?

Stop putting yourself in a box or labeling yourself as “one” designation/ position in an imaginary hierarchy. You’re a human being and you can do and be whatever you want at any point in life.

Sure, you might be better at one thing and not so good at another. But the real reason why you continue to do something is not money, fame, recognition, or external validation. The real reason is how it makes you feel.

It’s a feeling that we all are chasing. And it’s different yet the same, every time we do something we love.

And everyone has to be rubbed differently for them to reach that feeling (don’t overthink this sentence!).

Also, when you are pursuing creativity, it’s always great if you’re experienced in living life. And what is the meaning of living a life? It’s experiencing and feeling different emotions.

What Is the Meaning of All This?

Which days do you remember the most in your lives? I bet, it’s the days that made you feel something.

Why do you feel something? I bet because you experienced something.

Why do you experience something? Because you were open to exploring something.

If you have found your passion, by all means, go live it. But at some point, don’t feel obligated that you have to achieve that one thing you have called your passion.

Don’t follow a narrative of society which is made by people who have no idea what a creative life is!

The ones who are living this life know very well that it takes way more from you than it gives you (*wiping tear drops from the keyboard).

However, as creatives, we sometimes forget, that we have not chosen our passion. We have chosen our freedom. And freedom means being unafraid and uninhibited to do anything and everything that we want in our lives at any point.

Last

When you explore many different facets of living, it by default, makes you a better creative person, simply because of the range of things your brain can process through the wide variety of experiences that you have had in your life.

Also, this entire article is not just for young people in their 20s, beginning their lives. This is true for every single human being at any age. So, tell me what if you believe in having one passion or multiple interests that you want to explore?