Lessons Learnt From Jacks and Carpenters

I was sat in a small lecture theatre when a classmate finally walked through the door, twenty minutes late.

“You can’t keep doing this to yourself”, the lecturer took upon himself to say. “This isn’t high school, you’re paying a lot of money to be here. Don’t waste this opportunity by missing material each week”.

“I’m sure I’ll pick it up”, said my classmate. “I’m a Jack of all trades, me”.

“Jack of all trades, master of none”, the lecturer quickly retorted.

As unlikely as it sounds, this was the first time I’d heard that retort. I’d heard of the basic Jack of all trades idea, but never had I heard it blasted down so succinctly.

I sat there, in my half-desk-half-chair thinking it over in my mind. “Jack of all trades, master of none”. It made so much sense. Why be “okay” at lots of things when you can be incredible at one thing?

I’ve a friend who’s dad is a carpenter. To her he’s always just been her dad, but last year when she moved back into the family home and he decided to make her a new bed, he became more than just her dad. He became an incredible carpenter. She couldn’t believe all these years he’d been making these beautiful products and she’d never acknowledged him for it. He is truly a master of what he does. He’s a master at his thing.

However, recently I’ve found myself moving away from this way of thinking more and more. I’ve started pursuing more and more goals, each more ambitious than the last, and most significanly, each falling under a different label.

• I run. I’m not the best runner in the world, but for somebody who’s only been running for a couple of months, I think I’m doing pretty well.
• I play guitar. I’ve played on and off for years. It’s been a slow-burn hobby. You won’t see me headlining Glastonbury any time soon, but I think I’m fairly good at it. I love the feeling of hearing a song and knowing all I have to do to play it is quickly look up the chords online.
• I work online. I’m very lucky to be in a situation whereby I can live on a limited budget whilst still living within my means. I work in a shop over the weekends, and I work from home, sketching out new ideas and constantly learning, during the week. The harder I work during the week, the sooner the balance will shift and I’ll be able to give up my weekend job. That’s when the fun really starts.
• I write. When I sit down, as I am doing right now, and open up my text editor and just WRITE it feels incredible. I love to write, I really do. I hope that comes across, and I really hope you enjoy reading what I have to say.

What does this mean for me? Does concentrating on so many avenues make my efforts in each that much weaker?

It all comes down to what you want out of it. What do I want out of my relationship with running, playing guitar, and so forth?

Do I want to be an Olympic runner? Not really. Do I want to be in a band? Not anymore!

I enjoy each of these things as part of the bigger picture. They’re satellites surrounding me, they make me what I am, and they forever change and mould me into the best I can be.

So did my friends dad want to be a carpenter? You bet he did!

It all comes down to what you want out of it. He wanted a career in carpentry, and he got it. That’s his thing. If I wanted a career in carpentry, I would do all I could to go out and achieve that, just like he did. The same applies to my things. If he wanted to run, play guitar, work online, or write, he could do all of those things. But they’re not his things – they’re mine.

Call me a Jack of all trades if you will. But remember, they’re my things. You have yours. My friends dad has his.

And nobody can argue with that.

###

Tweet