Don’t be a jack of all trades — Be a master of one. We’ve all heard it, right?
A life mantra that get passed around as wisdom by our elders :)
But as time has progressed, I’ve realized I don’t entirely agree with it.
In fact, I think there’s immense value in being average at a bunch of things.
Before you roll your eyes, let me explain.
I’m not saying mediocrity should be the goal. (Who even wants that?)
What I mean is, being okay-ish at a variety of skills, instead of aiming for mastery in just one.
Alright, story time :)
Early in my career, I worked on a project that required tight collaboration between the back-end and the database. Each team had its own specialist, but they couldn’t agree on how to make their pieces fit.
Now, since I’d played around with all three areas in my spare time, I became the unofficial middleman. I helped them translate their jargon into something everyone could understand.
Was I the best coder? Nope.
Did I know as much about UI design as the specialist? Definitely not.
But my “average” skills in each area made me the glue that held the project together.
Why Being Average is a Strength
You know how life can change — just like that?
Like, you think you’re set, and then — boom — everything shifts.
Industries, jobs, even the “important” skills everyone’s raving about. It’s wild.
For a while, I used to stress about this. What if I wasn’t good enough at that one thing? But over time, I realized something: being okay at a mix of things? That’s a lifesaver.
Take me, for example. I’m not an amazing coder, not even close. Writing? Decent, but there are definitely better writers out there. Communication? I get by. But somehow, those three together have helped me in ways I couldn’t have predicted.
Like once, I was stuck in this project where the techies couldn’t understand the designers, and vice versa. Nobody could agree on anything. Since I’d dabbled in both, I ended up bridging the gap. Was I the expert? Nope. But it worked.
It’s kind of like… I don’t know, having duct tape. It’s not fancy or perfect, but it fixes things when you need it to. That’s how I think about being decent at a lot of stuff — it’s just handy when life throws random problems at you.
If you’re wondering how to get into this mindset, here’s what I usually do:
Try Everything. Seriously, if something new comes my way, I just dive in. Like the other day, I was messing around with Python’s cryptography library. Was I amazing at it? Nope. But now, I know just enough to make it work when I need it. That’s the goal — giving it a shot, not nailing it.
Learn Just Enough. Perfection? Who has time for that? I focus on the basics — just enough to get by when it matters. It’s saved me so much stress, not to mention time. No one’s judging, anyway (or if they are, I’m not listening).
Combine Skills. This is where the fun starts. Mixing stuff you’re kind of okay at can lead to cool results. Like me — my tech background paired with my writing skills lets me create content for Medium that stands out a bit. You don’t need to be an expert; you just need to make the most of what you’ve got.
Listen, the pressure to excel at everything can be exhausting. And it’s alright to be just good-enough :)
In case we are meeting for the first time, come over here, it’ll be worth the roller coaster of articles that are gonna come up in the next few weeks.
Use this to get to know more about me — https://linktr.ee/shashwat_writes