Which of these words appeals more strongly to
you ?It is an established fact that most of
us are too busy doing something (and doing
nothing as well) to stop and think for too
long about why they’re doing it or how
they’re doing it. As a result, we sometimes
end up doing a thing without really exploring
everything else that’s out there, or without
ensuring that we’re doing it the best
possible way. So we get back to the eternal
question: should we do a thousand things (as
most of us do) or should we do one thing and
perfect it ?Proponents of the doing-a-
thousand-things theory will no doubt say that
it helps them learn time management skills
and that it diversifies their portfolio.
Also, the exhilaration of pulling something
off that ought never to have worked pays for
all the tension that comes with almost not
pulling it off. In the corporate world, they
call this the ‘student syndrome’- it’s a
known fact that no matter how much time a
student is given to perform a task, the
actual work will be done in the last 15% of
that time. We all are guilty of it. However,
the detractors of this method of doing things
feel that one can never really enjoy oneself
if always hopping from deadline to deadline,
and that the resultant loss in quality
ensures that one can never really do justice
to one’s potential. We’ve all heard the
nursery rhyme- ‘One thing at a time and that
done well’. People who swear by the ‘do one
thing well’ rule say that it is the only way
to go if one wants recognition or to achieve
something lasting. They say that only
sustained effort can lead to success, if not
necessarily popularity and public visibility.
The downside, as portrayed by their critics,
is that one never really explores one’s full
potential if doing only one thing. Then on,
it is just perfection of a talent that has
already been
honed. Finally, a judicious mix of both
methods might be a good one to try - where
one explores two or three things in one’s
first year. (while, of course, exploring
acads - the prime motivator - as well.) After
that, it might be good to settle down to one
thing, and try to rise to the top in it,
instead of forever trying to be a jack-of-
all-trades. This is the age when we have the
time and enthusiasm to experiment.
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