Generalism

Almost everyone in the world has heard of a person being a “jack of all trades”, but I have actually heard it expanded. I don’t know what the original is or who wrote it. It’s something like – and I’m paraphrasing here – “a jack of all trades and a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one”

Generalism as a word is actually not found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, though generalist is. An internet search for generalism gives you articles on medicine, ethics, a few on butterflies of all things, and random definitions – all of which basically state that generalism is the practice of not specializing your knowledge base.

I have come to realize that I am a generalist. I know tidbits about a lot of different things, but I am not necessarily an expert in anything. I am ok with that. I truly believe that knowing more about many different things is better than knowing everything about one particular thing. It opens your mind to possibilities, to relationships between things. I know now that being stuck in a certain area of knowledge – like medicine or physics or finance – wouldn’t be enough for me. Yes, it would be riveting and fascinating, but still somehow….. not fulfilling. And that I am not ok with.