The Generalist

I long for freedom in my life. I crave it. To be able to wake up daily without a clear agenda where I can determine my fate for the day. No boss but myself. No limitations but wallet and my family. Unencumbered by the mundanity of the typical life the average person leads. 

I long to thrive, not merely survive. 

I am a person who loves to explore. To learn new topics. To let my curiosities guide what I do with my life. 

Knowing that this is where I derive some fulfillment out of life but recognizing that as humans we crave dopamine and the novelty that coincides with that, I struggle. 

Is it wrong of me to crave novelty? Wrong of me to allow myself to explore new ideas and concepts?

Maybe it’s less of a question of what is wrong and more of a question of where the balance lies. 

Is it okay to explore these interests, allowing myself to get consumed by them but having some consistencies?

If I am consistently posting content to my blog or YouTube but the underlying content is shifting and evolving with what I am exploring at the time, is that okay? 

Listening to the Founder’s Podcast today, I learned of Claude Shannon who seemingly took great pride in his willingness to explore his interests. To strike the balance that I am unsure of. 

It was inspiring to hear this. Not only to hear this but to hear that you can do this and still attain tremendous levels of success. 

Not only that, but he was able to do that in recent history. 

This contrasts with our system that advises singularity. Deep emphasis on specialization. Yet the generalist is the best equipped to adapt to the rapidly evolving world. 

In a society that praises the specialist, is the generalist on the rise?