mercredi 30 mai 2012

Dabbling

I just read an interesting post by Dale McGowan about his being a generalist, i.e. someone who is interested in a ton of things, dabbles in them, but never has time (takes the time?) to become a specialist before being distracted by some new pursuit.

He argues that he's always seen it positively, but that he does wonder sometimes about the potential benefits of exploring certain subjects more profoundly.

I consider myself a generalist as well -- jill of all trades, master of none -- and I also wonder sometimes if it wouldn't be more valuable to really become an expert at just one thing. I'm a good translator, a good terminologist, a good teacher, a good linguist, a good public speaker... but I'm not an EXCELLENT translator like someone who does only that one thing all the time.

Then again, I think some of us are programmed this way. It would be going against my nature to try to become an expert at just kind thing. It would only be a matter of time before I was interested in something else.

Someone told me the other day that shorter attention spans was a generational thing, but I don't think that's true. I think it's a matter of personality. And I don't know how old Dale McGowan is, but he's definitely not from the same generation that I am.

See: "Squirrel!" on The Meming of Life blog, May 29, 2012.

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