A Jack of all trades, is a master of none.
You’ve heard the expression…but until recently I wasn’t much aware of it’s different iterations throughout history.
You don’t know jack…
Which version of this proverb holds the most wisdom? Why did it change? Who the hell is Jack?
In the 14th century, Jack was an everyday common man. A trade was a venerable institution representing skilled people who carried out a specific job in the community. The well paid masters of these trades often oversaw the training of new workers and even issued the licenses to carry on the profession. Follow the logic (and money) and one could reasonably suspect these masters of co-opting a once complimentary phrase to influence the way society values expertise. After all, education has always been a privilege of the wealthy. And so the prevailing sentiment was, ”If you hire a Jack, you risk shoddy work. What you need is an expert!”
The original Daniel san… (1992)
Paschal High School Freshman Soccer Team (1998)
North Crowley Consolidated Ice Hockey Team (2000) Region Champs Baby!
It must not have resonated with 20th century me. I was into everything. Ahh the freedom of being a dependent. Club sports, music lessons, science experiments, all kinds of odd jobs. I wore all the hats and helmets and even though I wasn’t ever the BEST at any one thing…it never occurred to me that it could be preventing me from becoming a master at anything. But…by the time I reached my freshman year majoring in Biomedical Science at Texas A&M…
Saw Varsity’s Horns Off…
Texas A&M Ice Hockey Div 2 Club Champions
Image by: Murray Henderson Fine Art
Kevin Hart trapped as a GIF forever.
College. University. Higher Learning. It was the expectation in my family and in my peer group. It’s what created professionals out of both sets of my Grandparents and both of my parents as well. I knew I was going to college as soon as my Mom showed my Dad the Texas Tomorrow Fund, a state backed trust fund started in 1997 with the purpose of increasing higher education rates in the state. From that day forward it was the only reason I was putting in any effort (not much) to get good grades in school. When senior year rolled around, in spite of my previously generalist predilections, I felt an overwhelming pressure to become specialized. So specialized that I picked a school and major with a pre-determined destination 8-10 yrs in the future.
Vet School was the plan. Why? Regardless of the fact that my dad was a veterinarian and I had always shown an aptitude for science…I’m pretty sure I was looking forward to the money. Present me looks back on that mindset and thinks…how uninspiring. Present me looks back on that kid and thinks…who really knows what they want to do with their life when they’re 18? All I knew was, if I wanted to have a good life, I had to make a good living. In order to make a good living, I had to have a title like Dr. Verzosa (the 3rd generation). A mindset that would prove to be one the toughest I would ever have to unlearn.
Freshman year I only went to class for tests, it didn’t turn out well. Sophomore year I changed majors with a chip on my shoulder because my advisor told me I wasn’t gonna get to be a doctor of any kind. Junior year I started to get my shit together. Senior year I was catching the pack. By the victory lap, I think I was a reasonable candidate for vet school, even by A&M’s high standards.
“A jack of all trades, treading water to be a master of one.”
But, I didn’t quite make the cut. It wasn’t for me. Oh fuck.
What did I spend the last 5 years of my life doing?
Making myself so specialized, I had no other real life skills to fall back on except my adorable personality.
For a few blurry years, I leaned back into my multi interested nature by working at bar/restaurants on Northgate and playing the local open mic circuit. Follow the years as they turned into a full decade, head first dive into the Texas music and entertainment business. A new identity, a new title. The real life lessons I would soon learn during my years as an independent singer/songwriter, frontman, manager, booking agent, promoter, merch guy, driver, accountant, husband, binge drinker were some of the most valuable to my present self. But there I was again, still specializing, this time in a niche music scene.
There are pros and cons to living in a small pond. The fans are hungry and feel connected by the music they love. Unfortunately, the majority don’t want you to change much or try different things. (This guy gets bored quickly). They attach to you and the memories they have surrounding your music and eventually the spring runs dry.
At my core, I was into everything. Somewhere along the line I got it in my head I had to pick something and specialize if I didn’t want to struggle in the real world. It became clear for me while teaching Kindergarten, another pit stop on my journey to find a new identity, a new title. For natural Jacks born during the Ritalin era, curiosity could’ve easily been misdiagnosed as attention deficiency. Even those of us who weren’t subjected to chemical experiments were pressured away from “distraction” by a teacher or a parent. But it was precisely the diverse skill set I developed over my years of trial and error that allowed me to adapt so easily to this new adventure. Being a Jack of all trades made me the ultimate resource for a population obsessed with the question, “WHY?”
What makes the human species unique is that we are, in fact, Jacks and Jills of all trades but masters of none. We don’t run faster than cheetahs, we’re not stronger than gorillas, our attributes are naturally…average. But by gaining passing competence in multiple areas of survival, exceeding all other species in our adaptability to new environments and challenges, we’ve become one of the most dominant species on the planet.
So today’s conditional proverb represents this perspective pretty well with it’s additional caveat. It accepts that some people are inclined to specialize, some are born generalists and there are uses for both kinds of people in our society. Especially in the new gig economy.
“Practice makes progress...”
However, what I think it fails to address is how long it actually takes to become either a competent Jack of all trades or a Master of one. It takes consistency in both cases. It takes patience. Practice makes progress. And if you make a little progress everyday, you can become a near master of a lot of connectable skills. Skills meant to serve your purpose in living instead of just skills needed to execute a job. It is a plentiful world. Once I realized that, I no longer needed to be tied to a title to envision a sustainable future for myself.
So to all of my fellow Jacks and Jills I say, embrace your curiosity! Learn everyday. Diversify your skill set. Be flexible and make yourself very useful.
A Jack of All Trades, Is Mastered By No One.
Keep Learning!
NickytheFlip