I’ve recently had a bit of a dilemma. So, I work in audit. This means a lot of my day-to-day work is related to finance, accounting and dealing with different clients. However, you can probably tell from this blog, a lot of my interests lie outside of these areas.

I sometimes think to myself, “am I wasting my time” by doing this blog? Yes, I get to share my ideas and interests with the world. There is also an element where my writing skills are developed by doing this as well, which hopefully translates into my day-to-day role in audit. However, for the most part, the things I write about on this blog have nothing to do with my actual day job. Therefore, if I want to be successful, shouldn’t I specialise in one area? To become the best “auditor”, shouldn’t I specifically only read books on audit? Should I only spend my spare time investigating ways to become a better auditor?

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times – Bruce Lee

I often think back to the quote above by Bruce Lee. I also think about successful people in the world, and how they are generally just really really great at that one thing, and then good at everything else.

However, if you take a deeper look, most successful people in their field usually are either insanely good at one thing or they started off pretty good at a few things and experienced a breakthrough moment in one of those things. I think the second kind is more obtainable and probably relatable for most people (including me). For example, as a child, Rafael Nadal was equally talented in both football and tennis, when eventually at the age of twelve, he decided to pursue just tennis. He was able to make this decision because he initially pursued multiple talents. Another one is Usain Bolt, who actually started off playing cricket and then later went into athletics.

This form of success comes from planting multiple seeds. Imagine planting only one seed and watering it regularly with your best efforts, only to find out sometime later the soil was contaminated. You can mitigate this by planting multiple seeds in different conditions. At least then, you have a greater chance of that one seed blossoming into something magical.

That’s why I try and pursue more things outside of my job and am not afraid to make career-changing decisions.

For example, I had a great interest and passion for science at school. This led to me studying biomedical sciences at university. However, by the end of university, that passion wasn’t quite there and I didn’t really want to pursue a career in science.

This left me in two minds. Do I still become a scientist just because I spent a large part of my education and life interested in science? Or do I make a shift into something that I haven’t done, but would like to do? Ultimately, I chose the latter, which led to me working as an auditor and becoming a chartered accountant, despite having a science background.

I try and apply this approach to my life today. I want to be more than just my job title. I want to be a blogger. I want to learn more about the human body and how to live longer. I want to (eventually!) learn how to code. The list goes on and on. There are just so many other things I want to do, that aren’t related to my day job or past experiences.

Combining some of these interests may either allow me to find my breakthrough moment or allow me to create a niche for myself where I am the only person who can do my combination of ‘things’ at a decent level.

Ultimately, I think it’s important to diversify your potential by stepping outside of your comfort zone. Don’t stay in your lane just because that’s what you have spent most of your life on. If you are interested in something else or want to change, go for it. You never know what’s on the other side unless you make that leap.

And finally, don’t ever think it’s too late…

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb