Specialization Is for Insects: Why Being a Generalist Is a Superpower

Specialization Is for Insects

I’ve always wondered if I should limit myself to one workstream and become a superstar in that. Because, growing up, I had always heard that we must not be a jack of all trades, because it might mean we become master of none.

But, a few years ago, I came across this quote from Robert Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love :

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.

 

Specialization is for insects.

And I changed my opinion on what I wanted to do. I would try to learn and enjoy as many subjects as possible, even if it means I am master of none.

After all, there is so much to learn even in one subject that a lifetime is not enough.

Why Can’t I Do It All?

And I wrote this essay to support my ideas because I wasn’t sure which single thing interested me most because I wanted to learn many different things. And more importantly, why can’t I do it all?

In Nietzsche’s Untimely Meditations from 1873, he uses a Latin phrase to define a noble life purpose. He urges that we must live dangerously, striving for the “great and the impossible” rather than seeking comfort in the mundane. He writes,

“I know of no better life purpose than to perish attempting the great and impossible.”

In the book I See You Called in Dead, the urgency with which our mortality is explored is a call for us to reconsider all the things that we want to do in life and not wait to get started on our dream projects.

There, the narrator shifts from morbid curiosity to a deeper reflection: death was never the point, our life is.

Read the essay HERE.

Maybe I Was Onto Something

More recently, I came across this article on Substack, and my lifelong search feels vindicated.

The author argues that connecting different fields can produce innovation that specialization alone may miss. Because “We specialize but the problems don’t. What is obvious to you is frequently invisible to someone two fields away.” So, “Polymaths, researchers who bridge distinct fields, are central to innovation.”

And no better time than being a polymath. “AI could make polymathy “affordable again. The obstacle is no longer the cost of (semi-)transitioning to another field.”

Read the article, The Rise of Polymaths – Why we need versatile individuals more than ever by Joanna Krupka, HERE.

So, what’s stopping you from diving into all the areas of interest you always wanted to pursue?

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