You are a Polymath, Don’t You Doubt It
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Am I the only one who is tired of reading articles about focusing on one specific thing you’re really good at to be successful?
If you ask me what I’m best at, I don’t think I can answer the question.
If you think you can answer that question, you’re probably wrong.
For those who don’t know, a polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas.
Following Dreams
I knew very early on that I wanted to build games growing up. I directed my life to reach that goal. In my teenage years, I built games using free software like RPG Maker and Game Maker. I later learned to program in college. As soon as I could get in the industry, I did. It was great. I was very good at it.
I shifted gears 5 or 6 years later and worked for a non-game company. It was great. I was very good at it.
I left 6 months later to travel around the world. I tried as many things as I could. Things I had no idea if I’d be good at it or not. But I tried. I surprised myself most of the time. I was very good at other non-programming related tasks.
“If you can dream it, you can do it” — Walt Disney
“Becoming” A Polymath
This realization put me in a year of self-doubt about the direction of my life after I came back from that trip a year later. Some people travel to find themselves, I was definitely more lost than I was when I left.
It’s then the I started experimenting on every new skill I could pick up. I became good at lots of things. I’ve since then developed this framework where I learn (at least) 3 new skills every month.
In a very short timespan, I:
- started getting contracts for taking professional photos;
- started writing semi-professionally;
- started an eCommerce selling Viking gear;
- built the (self-proclaimed) best yet-to-be-released Text-to-Speech app;
- started speaking other languages;
- gave talks on time management & productivity;
- gave English classes;
