What If You Have Many Different Interests and Cannot Commit to Any of Them?

What If You Have Many Different Interests and Cannot Commit to Any of Them?

By Steve Pavlina

If you’re attracted(əˈtrakt) to many different pursuits(pərˈso͞ot) and can’t commit to any single one of them for your career, college(ˈkälij) major(ˈmājər), or income source, then good for you! Leonardo da Vinci(liōˌnardō də ˈvinCHē) was in the same boat(bōt). He’s considered by many to be the greatest genius of all time.

The notion(ˈnōSHən) that you have to commit to a single trade for life (or even for a decade or two) makes sense if you want to live like an industrial(inˈdəstrēəl) worker drone(drōn). But then you’re just filling the role of a cog(käg) in a giant machine, perfectly disposable(disˈpōzəbəl) and easily replaced by similar(ˈsimələr) cogs.

Let me guess… the people telling you (maybe even yelling at you) to pick one thing and commit to it are also on the drone path themselves, right? Do you honestly want their results? Or would you like something better?

It’s perfectly okay to reject the drone path, you know. Lots of people do, and they’re much happier for it. But they aren’t the same people that will tell you, “Pick one thing and stick(stik) to it, or you’ll(yo͞ol) never amount to anything.” Instead they’ll(T͟Hāl) probably say, “The more interests you pursue, the smarter you’ll become.”

There’s no rule(ro͞ol) that says you must commit to being a drone

I don’t want to commit to any one thing for life. I don’t even like committing to just one thing for a month. I have too many interests. If I picked just one thing and let all the rest go, I wouldn’t be happy. I’d just feel trapped(trap). So I chose to reject that option. I can see that it isn’t right for me. Hmmm… for some reason the people that said I should specialize(ˈspeSHəˌlīz) got a lot quieter(ˈkwīət) when my eclectic(əˈklektik) interests started paying off financially.

Presently(ˈprez(ə)ntlē) I enjoy writing, blogging, speaking, podcasting, online business, studying self-improvement, philosophy(fəˈläsəfē), humor(ˈ(h)yo͞omər), disc golf, psychic(ˈsīkik) development, etc. Why should I pick just one? Am I a blogger, an author, a speaker, a personal development expert, an Internet entrepreneur(-ˈnər,ˌäntrəprəˈno͝or)? So I have a chaotic(kāˈädik) resume(riˈzo͞om). Who cares?

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https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/07/what-if-you-have-many-different-interests-and-cannot-commit-to-any-of-them/