It has been a bit of a struggle to come up with topics for every single day during Blaugust. I may think deeply about concepts, but I don’t tend to explore topics in depth. Whenever I get interested in a topic, I don’t get very far. Take philosophy, for example. Looking into new philosophical concepts is a lot of fun for me, but once I have a basic understanding, I’m ready to move on. No matter how much I would like to dive deeper, it’s never stimulating enough to keep going.
I don’t have a solution to this problem—if it even is a problem. Maybe a solution is not what I need. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with this method of learning. Is it possible that the best course of action is to accept this part of myself?
It’s not like I’m upset with myself for being the way I am—I just don’t know how to turn self-acceptance into action. If I am to accept this habit, I need to figure out what it looks like to do so.
Hobbies are like this for me, as well. I’ll give you an example. I’m a little good at a lot of musical instruments, and have questionable recording skills. If I add up all the things I can do slightly better than poorly, I could sit down and record a very low-quality album. That might technically be an opinion, but you can trust me that it would be shared by many.
It seems I have two options—make shoddy music or dive deeper into one area involving music. If I’m completely honest—without overthinking it—I would prefer skipping the deep dives. Plus, if I chose the deep dive, I won’t end up with an album.
Well, I think I’ve solved it. I need to lower my standards if I want to feel content with my creative output.
Now, let’s bring it back to the start of this post. When it comes to the many topics I enjoy casually, I can find ways to connect them in unexpected ways. This is called associative thinking—a term I had to look up. I’m sure I’ve heard of it, but this is my first time finding it relatable.
I hope the internet is ready for whatever strangeness I’m about to throw at it. Luckily for me, the internet has always been strange.
Consider looking into Barbara Sher’s concept of Scanners vs Divers. The world holds up specialist deep-divers and people seeking mastery as a group of people to be admired at the top of their fields (but they have to be very narrow to get that good at it.)
Not everyone seeks or desires to be at the top of a pedestal. Some of us are generalists, multipotentialites, renaissance people that thrive when we dabble. There’s room for a lot more amateurs and hobbyists than professionals. And the only way we can do it all (or most of it all) is to go shallower and touch lightly, but just enough to matter and be satisfied.
Thanks! I just looked into it. There are a couple of books of hers that I found. Trying to figure out which to start with now.