The full quote that is almost always forgotten about, is this:
"Jack of all trades, master of none, is still better than a master of one".
Another quote:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Robert Heinlein
I'm not sure I agree with his list in our day, but it is still the case that our lives require a broad set of skills and breadth as well as depth of knowledge is essential to be informed and to be competent in our world today.
Might be a little bit dated alright but their is wisdom in the quote.
I do think that it's important to have some specific skills that set you above the crowd but definitely handy to be able to throw your hat at other things that happen in day to day life.
Street smarts beats book smarts.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Not exactly the lesson that I take from it. In life you need street smarts, book smarts. Soft skills and hard skills. However, competence is more important than mastery. Competence matters nearly all the time, it's the difference between being able to do something yourself and needing someone else to do it for you. It's also the difference between swallowing bad information and averting mistakes. Mastery matters too, but takes much longer to achieve and it's less frequently a benefit. It also makes you less flexible, because the particular skill may one day cease to be relevant. Usually mastery is key when you don't just need to be good enough, you need to be better than nearly (or absolutely) everyone else. For most people that's rarely going to matter, but if you're a F1 race car driver, it matters every day.
Most of the time, most people should pursue competence in many areas over mastery in few. If you pursue mastery, you should have a particular and good reason for it.