Jack Of All Trades
Surely you have heard that saying before. People usually throw around “jack of all trades, master of none” around as an insult. To make someone feel bad about their “inability to commit” to a single subject or sometimes a single vocation in life. When I found out that quote in its entirety, I was shook! The complete version of the original saying is, “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” Please, read that again! It was meant to be a compliment!
I'll repeat that... it is a compliment! It suggests that the person is a generalist rather than a specialist, making them versatile and adept at many things! To be versatile and adept is absolutely a life skill. Honesty, you could put that on your resume under special skills. Yet, I have lived my whole life feeling like my quest for knowledge was a negative quality. I study everything that pops into my head. No lie. Currently, I am qualified or actively licensed as a hairstylist, a master colorist, a bartender, and a personal trainer. I’ve also studied nutrition and functional movement. My newest venture is herbology! Fun fact: I only use two of these things to make a living. I've spent thousands of dollars. I’ve said this before, but it took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I paid for all of these courses solely for my benefit. All of the knowledge I've gained has been strictly for my use, until now.
Because of the idea that “jack of all trades master, of none” was an insult, I have felt compelled to have side jobs of every sort to personally legitimize my quest for knowledge about everything. That was the original birth of Connectic Fitness! I mean, if I became a personal trainer, I must now start pursuing a fitness career… right? I learned so much about fitness and nutrition that I thought, “I should start a fitness company.” It’s only now that I’m coming to realize that there is absolutely nothing wrong with learning for learning's sake. Despite what you have learned from Instagram, everything doesn’t need to generate income, and money spent on education is rarely money wasted. In this life, two things make you richer when you invest in them, that is education and travel. This is because they give you in return two things that can never be taken from you, knowledge and experience.
We all have that one friend that starts every piece of advice with “I once read.” Let me tell you now. I am that friend. I once read that people with a little knowledge of various things can solve problems faster and more efficiently because they can pull possible solutions from things utterly unrelated to the issue. So, I challenge you to widen your interest and then take in as much as you can about the things that interest you. You’ll never know how it may serve you in the future. I have come to intimately know that it is a beautiful thing to be a wanderer, an explorer, and a “master of none.”