Should I be truly an expert at one thing or have competence over many things ?

 One of the common mistakes I see people making in every area of their life is to assume that most things are an “either/or” equation.

But they aren’t.

More often than not, they’re “both/and.”

And to answer your question, the BEST thing you can do with your life is to develop a wide breadth of skills and knowledge (a jack of all trades) AND devote yourself to mastering a single skill or trade.

Or to put it another way, “To build a T Shaped Life”

Let me break this down for you…

Mastery is said to require at least 10,000 hours of disciplined effort.

Which means that you can realistically MASTER one skill every 5 years (assuming that you’re mastering your primary profession and working 8 hours 5 days a week with a few holidays).

So, if you’re 30 right now and you live to be 70, it’s possible for you to become a true master of 5–8 different disciplines throughout your lifetime.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

To become “World Class” at something (in the top 5% of the world), you rarely need more than 250–500 hours of practice.

So…

Assuming that you’re only willing to devote only 3 hours a day to secondary skills—whether it’s reading, writing, playing the guitar, doing yoga, or training jujitsu—you can become highly competent at 2–3 MORE skills every year.

In a given decade, you can master two skills and become world class at 20–30 more.

Pretty crazy, right?

The trick is to become more disciplined in the way that you use your time.

Most Americans waste 6+ hours a day on social media, porn, TV, and video games.

And if you’re willing to cut back on these vices and invest those extra hours into more fulfilling pursuits, you can quickly build your own T shaped life where you are a master of 2–3 AND a jack of all trades.

Hope this helps.

Stay Grounded,
Andrew

{Bloggers' Note : By Top 5% Author meant that being in top 5% of total population of the world  in that skill which if you calculate is pretty much accurate. I will even go as far as to say that you can be  in among Top 1% of world population  in many skills but sure enough you will be among top 5% of world population in that skill if you dedicate & practice 250-500 hour. Do Try it, Pick One Skill & Learn & Practice it for 250-500 hours and then see }

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