It’s all fine and good to have wildly varying interests, to want to learn and focus your energy on multiple disciplines. But there’s a very real problem with that – we have a limited amount of time and energy, and to do any work at a high level requires a significant amount of both.
Knowing this forces you to be selective about how you choose to spend your time, which isn’t easy. Then there’s the question of what, if any, goals do you have? This has always been a bit of a problem for me, if only because I’ve never really been very good at accomplishing specific long-term goals. There always seems to be outside forces over which I have no control that throws a wrench in the works. Or perhaps my long-term goals were unrealistic?
Any goals that require manipulating a complex non-linear system (like the world) seem to be out of reach – although Marc Andreesen would argue that point. Maybe I’m not smart enough to figure out how to crack that nut, or maybe I’m too self-defeating – I’m not sure. Note: Flag that topic for more thought...
Just maintaining your state of health becomes more and more time consuming as you age – exercise, meditation, mindful diet, sleep, physical therapy to mitigate deficits brought on by cancer treatment, stretching, constantly preemptively working to fix a body that just seems like it wants to break down, somehow keeping your demons at bay; this list could go on and on – oh, and don’t forget the importance of fucking daydreaming for Christ sake. That’s where some of the best ideas come from…
So go easy on pursuing too many things at once – ask yourself: What do I really want to do? What makes me happy? What do I have control over?
What would have been important to have at least attempted before I died?
There’s your answer.