I have never been great at any one thing in my life. There I said it.
This statement has been rising up in my thoughts a lot lately. I see professional athletes making it big because they are great at one sport. I see VP's and CEO's rise up because they are great at a certain facet of business. I see musicians make it huge because they are great at their instrument or they have a great voice. Actors, Doctors, Salespeople and the list goes on.
The fact is, I have never dedicated enough time to ONE singular subject or activity to become great at it. It isn't for lack of encouragement to do so (I have had plenty of encouragement in my life) but rather it is due to my lack of interest in pigeonholing myself into one single skill. In my life I have had the opportunity to become a master at many different things, as we all have. As human beings we are born with the ability to focus on one subject and master it or we can choose not to have focus; thus enabling our minds to grasp aspects of many different subjects.
Focus I guess is something that I have lacked in my past life.
I was once focused on becoming as good as I could have been at hockey when I was in high school and I became a pretty good hockey player. The fact of the matter is I am from a region that doesn't exactly produce NHL All Stars on a regular basis so I (like many of my peers in Western PA in the 90's) was limited to playing high school and club hockey and not making it past freshmen year club hockey in college. The realization was that I wasn't going to be an NHL'er and that was okay with me. I was far from being good enough to even chase the dream. That is something I learned quickly when I tried out for a division 1 program and took my first blind side hit during scrimmages from a guy that looked like he was thirty and hit like a mack truck. Must be something in the Canadian water.
Since those days (10 years ago I graduated high school), seeing that I was never going to be a professional athlete or an Oscar winning performer, I have kind of made a choice that I want to learn about as many different aspects of this life that I can. I used to say (cheesy I know) that I wanted to be a modern day renaissance man. I took my time graduating from college because I wanted to take classes in a few different majors because I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to be as an adult worker bee, and still don't. Took a year and a half off to work and play. I did some travelling and bought some cars. So on and so forth.
So here I am. Jack of all trades. Father. Husband. Salesman. Beer league center ice man. Son. Blogger. Thinker. Brother. Golfer. Shade Tree Mechanic. Tim Taylor.
Father. It sticks out and permeates me to the core. It is the one aspect in this life that has become effortless for me to focus on. Fatherhood is the best profession in the world for me. I am responsible for teaching life skills to my son and soon to be daughter (oh I forgot to tell you that we are having a baby girl in April of this year) and I take the task very seriously. If I can be truly great at one singular thing on this earth before I die I hope it is being a father.
After all, being a father requires one to wear many hats which is something I feel quite capable of doing. You are a teacher, a counselor, a disciplinarian, a coach, cheerleader, bus driver, provider, etc... but the best thing about being a father is that you are constantly learning from and evolving with your children throughout their lives that are infinitely intertwined with your own.
Digging deeper into the issue.
When my children show an interest and aptitude for a subject, be it music, sports, academics; should I push him or her to focus on the subject to become great at it? After all the ones who get the glory it seems are the ones who excel at their chosen discipline.
It is not I who will ever be recognized with a parade for what I do in my life; I have accepted that. My children however still have the chance to someday ride on their own float and get paid tons of money and respect for being great at something singular. All I want as a father is for my children to feel like they are something special everyday. In order to do that should I encourage them to dedicate their full attention to what they are most interested in from the beginning or should I encourage them to try many different things and choose for themselves.
The only clear cut answer from historical results is to focus on one subject and forget about the rest until after you have mastered what was first and most important.
Does this approach seem like a feasible one for development. Will it leave my children wanting more or will they revel in it from the recognition?
Do Mario Lemieux or Serena Williams ever think "I wish I would have spent more time learning science or something else" or do they love their lives knowing that they were the best, at one point in their career, at what they did and in doing so they have afforded themselves a life that no mere mortal will ever know?
People always say that a balanced education is the best approach to life but we always cheer for those on the top of their game. Which one is it?
