Google before you tweet…

So true, Mr. Emerson.

Indeed…

kelseyyrose:

Venice, you look absolutely stunning.

“Most of your ideas will never take shape, and that’s ok…”

Dear World,

I’m going to try everything. Yes, everything. And that’s okay.

Go on, tell me I’m wrong; tell me to stick to one thing and become an expert at it. Just let this serve as a warning: I’m going to laugh at you.

I used to think that it wasn’t okay. I spent almost $15,000 exploring my interests at a time when I should have been learning how to be a complacent, number-crunching industrial engineer. I regretted it for a bit, and while I’m still not happy about the amount I spent, I’m very happy to have tried so many things over those couple of years, regardless of how low my grades dropped. It’s not that I didn’t have the capacity to do well in my engineering classes—I did, and in some I did very well. But I didn’t enjoy them. I enjoyed learning to kitesurf. I had fun setting up studio equipment and learning to record. I happily cycled through many new guitars, amps, and equipment. I was excited to build my first computer from scratch, and loved playing Counter-Strike (source) until 2 a.m.

Was any of that unproductive? Hell no.

Go ahead, tell me it was. Tell me all of that was just recreation, and that real life is all about working to make money to live on and retire with. Just keep in mind my notice: I will laugh at you.

I gained an appreciation for the power of the wind as my first 12-meter kite launch dragged me across the Bay’s waves. I found out that making a studio-quality record takes time and patience, and that talent is more important than equipment. I joked, laughed, and enjoyed intelligent conversations—speaking, not typing—online with thousands of brilliant (and not-so-brilliant) individuals across the globe, and I noticeably improved my reflexes and the quality of my eyesight in the process. All of that from playing a game. I could give you a list of articles explaining the benefits of gaming, but that’s not the point, and I have since limited (but not eliminated) my game time in order to experience other new things. I bought new guitars and amps, many of which I quickly sold or returned, but each one inspired me to learn a little more or play a little while longer. When’s the last time you were inspired?

This is just a snippet of one point in my life nearly 3 years ago, and while I may have curbed the spending, I have yet to suppress my interest in anything new. Not for any reason. Within the boundaries of rationality, I find that there is no reason to not persue any interest. I have learned this through my experiences, I have questioned it under the influence of many people, and at this point in my life I know I am ready and able to confirm it.

Why now? Because I have found a community of people who feel the same way. Perhaps I just wasn’t looking, or perhaps I was looking in the wrong places, but nevertheless, I have discovered that I am not alone.

One day, while feeling rather inspired after a good karaoke session (read: painful howling session) in the car on the way to work, I decided I wanted to share my thoughts on the frustrations of being a decent singer who’s favorite music is completely out of his vocal range. (More on that in another post.) I had recently discovered tumblr and decided that this might be an appropriate vehicle for said thoughts, among other things. So—stay with me here—thinking that a new domain name was in order for such an occasion, I began searching for a more concise wording to describe “someone with an above-average interest in many things.” Somehow, either through the searches or while making sure I hadn’t made up the word, I landed on the term “generalist” ( n. One who has broad general knowledge and skills in several areas), which then led me to this article by Jarkko Laine. Not only was this one of those “how did he get in my head” type of articles, expressing my own feelings almost exactly, but it was also the first time I had read about someone who shared my habit of having multiple, varied interests yet wasn’t mulling over it or seeking to break free and assume a more boring, manageable existence.

During the past few months, before coming across Mr. Laine’s article, I had become terribly irritated with people professing that my many interests were going to be a burden instead of a blessing. At some point, I resolved internally to no longer seek only sufficient knowledge of my interests with casual research and sporadic experimentation, but to pursue expert status in anything I enjoyed enough to certifiably label an interest. This would not only prevent (or at least shield) ridicule, but it would undeniably be a difficult personal challenge, and I’m always up for one of those.

My morning searches couldn’t have led me to a better place than to a person who was affirming and encouraging my lifestyle. I had admittedly become somewhat overwhelmed by the looming task of moving on from my amateur status in so many activities to become an “expert.” Jarkko has rationalized the formula down to something I agreed with completely, and that is much easier to handle given the fact that we all must inevitably live, at least for a while, a “normal life” alongside our variable interests. His final definition is this:

Being insanely interested in everything = having the potential to becoming an expert in everything

I can—in fact, I will—live with that.

I’m reading Tim Ferris’ The 4-Hour Workweek, and I’m enamored with the concept of mini-retirements and tossing out the worthless, standard model of life, work and retirement. One section of the book sparked this whole movement that had been brewing within me by basically asking one question: Why would you ever knowingly spend the most capable years of your life not doing the things you enjoy?

I will never have to answer that question. But I will ask it, over and over again, to any person who tells me that I’m taking the wrong approach to my interests. Mind you, the article I referenced is not alone; it cites and is appropriately backed up by Steve Pavlina’s terrific post, What if You Have Many Interests and Cannot Commit to any of Them, among others and comments by readers offering their concurrence. This is obviously not a lonely community, so there is no reason for me to feel alone in it anymore.

I will eventually modify the equation—not improve, just modify—for myself. I’ll remove “having the potential to,” and tack on “and enjoying every second of it” to the end.

I’m not in a position to warn, nor do I intend to persuade anyone—this is just what works for me. However, let remind you, pessimists of the World, that you have been notified: Challenge my style, and I’ll only laugh and ask you if you’re having fun planning to enjoy your life.

—

While I hope to have given sufficient credit to the authors and material referenced herein, please notify me of any errors and I will happily make the necessary changes to ensure everything is ‘politically correct.’ Also, I do realize that my ADD (the ‘real’ thing, clinically diagnosed in 1993) often prevents me from following a coherent path while writing… Sorry about that, just try to enjoy it anyway! =)

Speaking of ADD: While I never actually ended up writing about trying to sing things I shouldn’t, I did decide on, after some thought, a new domain for a new blog. Thus was born VariableInterests.com. I’ve started but not continued many blogs in the past (usually due to some other interest taking over), but this one should be different. I’ve started to lose track of many of the things I find so inspiring and interesting, and hopefully—assuming everything goes to plan—this will serve as a catalog for myself and anyone else who cares to follow along.