Jack of all trades

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M_also_lonely

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This has been a problem for me all the time.

I see someone making a beautiful painting, I want to be a painter.
I see someone doing complex mathematics, I want to be able to do that.
I see someone flying a fighter jet, I want to fly one.
I see a lecture in physics, I want to study physics.
I see someone making a software, I want to learn that.

This sort of nature did have a benefit. 

I ended up learning:  CAD, coding, building basic circuits, digital painting, photo editing, karate, business, cooking, cricket, football, music making, and so many other things.
But not an expert at any of them.

But I just can't settle. And its not only about what career I should pursue, but it is my inability to make a decision and focus on that while forgetting the rest.

For example, I spend eight days trying to understand this paper in computer science, which is not even my educational background. And as soon as I finally get a bit of understanding and start writing my conclusions, I find a video about a great project in CAD. So I install that software and work on that. Then halfway, I find a new upload by one of my favorite digital artists and I want to try out that project. 

Its not some 5 things. It could be anything. But it is very easy for me to get distracted (not frustrated) and give up to do the next thing.

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The negative impact that it has had on me is that I ended up missing out on a few important competitive exams because I was so involved in taking my small, tiny business further. Which I knew was going to fail. Now I can't apply for them until next year, and I also lost interest in my business once I studied about one of the studies in one of the leading Space Research Organizations of my country.
I know I can almost never get a job there, but now I am interested in that. 

But I know for sure that something else is going to distract me soon. 

I missed out on potentially great job opportunities when I should have taken them.
This were just few examples.
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Back in the university, I couldn't decide where to go for lunch. Just lot of calculations going on. 
Can't decide which shirt I want if I am given two similar options. etc.
 
i missed out my potentials a lot because of my narcs but is never too late for us all, i can do lot things so i decide i should focus on what i like the most, what do you like the most and beneficial? focus on that. take two or tree the maximum. just my two cents.
 
A friend of mine got a pilot's licence a few years ago. He got into it very keenly, then after a couple of lessons had some disappointments and felt he wasn't learning well or quickly enough. His instructor told him "When you start, you think you know everything, when you get into it you realise you know nothing, and once you're qualified you realise you'll never know everything."

This is a very good way to look at all kinds of things, feeling as though you don't know every last detail of a certain thing doesn't mean you aren't good enough. We are human and we have finite capabilities and life is one long lesson.

If you have a brain that's flexible enough to cover all those subjects you mention above, it's a pretty decent mind you've got there. It's often the case in the workplace and in written applications that the demonstration of interests and capabilities across a broad spectrum is a useful skill in itself. There are people who won't have understood one of those subjects as well as you've understood five.

Don't be disheartened.
 
You've obviously got a very inquisitive mind, which is a good thing - creativity is basically just the ability to combine two or more things together in a new way, so being able to draw upon such a wide range of topics is a real advantage.

It could just be you haven't found your thing yet - I basically fell into a job that I never would have ever seen myself doing, even two or three years ago, and I find it genuinely fascinating now. I get that it must be frustrating now but when you do find something to settle on this restless will put you in a great position.
 
M_also_lonely said:
This has been a problem for me all the time.

I see someone making a beautiful painting, I want to be a painter.
I see someone doing complex mathematics, I want to be able to do that.
I see someone flying a fighter jet, I want to fly one.
I see a lecture in physics, I want to study physics.
I see someone making a software, I want to learn that.

This sort of nature did have a benefit. 

I ended up learning:  CAD, coding, building basic circuits, digital painting, photo editing, karate, business, cooking, cricket, football, music making, and so many other things.
But not an expert at any of them.

But I just can't settle. And its not only about what career I should pursue, but it is my inability to make a decision and focus on that while forgetting the rest.
I too have very wide interests. I worked as an Avionics Tech, rebuilt cars for several years, bought real estate for the government, taught computer science, appraised properties, installed sprinkler systems, poured concrete, etc, etc, etc. I continually moved on to other things. I even found cutting hair to be interesting. BTW, I've cut my own hair for the past twenty or so years.

Currently I'm screwing a round with solar including building inverters and other high power electronic stuff. My interest is swaying again though. I think biology can be really fun. I would like to make slides and be able to test my own blood when needed. I've been pricing microscopes lately. Ha! ha! I usually take something I'm interested in to a fairly high level then I stop and move on to something else. Ha! ha! It drives me crazy to stay in one field. But, that has kept me from moving up the career ladder.

I had to play dumb sometimes when I was in a group situation because I came across as the know it all guy. People didn't believe that I could do so many different things and often times knew more about what they have been doing their entire lives. People just figured I was a liar and making things up to seem more interesting. 

I agree it can be a real pain in the ass sometimes because when I find something I need I have to research it to death, get interested into it, and then invest a lot of time into it. It would be much easier to buy what's needed, use it, and get back to one specialty. But, I have to know how and why everything works. Then I have to improve it. 

People really baffle me though. I thought about digging into psychology but people are just too inconsistent. They don't make any sense. Ha! ha!
 
There's nothing wrong at all with being a 'Jack of all trades'.

At home, this will help you to achieve so much in your home and gaining fulfillment in your hobbies.

At work, you are needed!  You can fit into a role as theorised by Belbin

https://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles/

I'm guessing you would be a 'Resource Investigator' or even a 'Plant'.

All those roles are important in the workplace, it's just finding where you fit in!  And then finding a career which best matches the type of person you are.  Personality testing like Myers-Briggs is also good for understanding a little about yourself and what careers you might be suited to

https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/home.htm?bhcp=1

I would suggest that one thing that would help you to 'get things done' instead of drifting, would be to learn how to structure your day and avoid procrastination,  Routine it out and stick to it - train your brain 'discipline' by rewarding your accomplishments with treats!

6.30am - get up/shower/get ready
7 - make healthy breakfast/eat/wash up
7.30 - go for a long walk
8.30 - Study hour
9.30 - hobby hour (your reward for eating healthy/getting exercise/studying)
10.30 - Study hour
11.30 - hobby hour (reward for studying)
12.30 - eat healthy lunch
1.30 - work out
2.30 - Study hour
3.30 - binge out on something completely unhealthy (because you know you want to)
4.00 - study hour
5.00 - hobby hour (as reward for studying/working out)
6.00 - eat a healthy dinner
7.00 - housework
8.00 - evening study
9.00 - hobby hour (as reward for studying.eating healthy)
10.00 - Ease down, with bible or meditation or just reading a book
10.30 - Bed

Something 'like' above. You are a person who enjoys doing and learning lots of things - there's nothing wrong with that. However, the important thing for a person like you is to learn discipline and structure, so you can give yourself permission to do the many things your mind seeks. At work, you need to find yourself a job where you are always actively busy, full of many 'never ending' tasks, where you can start things but aren't necessarily the one to finish them.  Juggling many tasks would probably suit you, doing one task over and over probably wouldn't. Solving problems, initiating ideas, getting others to do things that you're not so great at, all good. Management would probably be good for you but sales, research, analysis, production line work, probably wouldn't. Setting up your business would be good to start with but then you'd get bored etc, etc.

Above all else, realise there are lots of positives to the 'way you are', I'm not dissimilar but have learned to discipline and structure to fit it all in!
 

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