Jack of All Trades gives a positive meaning, until it was appended with Master of None. Having a wide arsenal of skills is a double-edged sword. Yes you are knowledgeable in many fields, but the question is, are you highly competitive on those fields?

Besides being a full-time web developer, I’m also a serious card magician or technician. I also constantly play and study guitar, billiards, and chess. I also did some cooking, skateboarding and web hacking. Earlier this year I also started studying singing and a little electronics. This same year I also began to dive into finance and investments. I’m fond of learning new discipline every once in a while. Despite of having a negative connotation of the term Jack of All Trades, I still think being one is awesome and good for oneself. I think we can somehow modify that title and make it “Jack of All Trades, Master of ONE“. I believe we can learn different fields as much as we want and still able to master one. In my case, I choose computer programming as my master field. I treat it like my wife, and I treat my other hobbies as my kids.

I don’t know the real reason why there are people who wants to get a taste of a little bit of everything. However for me, I constantly wanted to learn new things because of the satisfaction I get every time I beat the challenges present on that new discipline. When I tried to play billiards, I was fascinated by the game because of the physics involved. I accepted the challenge of the game. So during my last months in college, I played almost 6-8 hours a day, 3-4 times a week (So Hardcore!). Once I somehow managed to understand the 90-degree rule, the 30-degree rule, and other Newtonian sh*ts applicable to the game, I felt satisfied. However, as I study the game more, I discovered that it is not just an action-and-reaction game, there is also a freaking math involved. I thought it is just a game of angles then I discovered that there are formulas to do some serious sh*ts (Click the link to blow your mind).

There are also positive effects on diving into different disciplines. It’s not just about collecting sh*ts that you can brag about. As a card magician, I’m required to have a dexterous and fast hands/fingers to manipulate the cards and to — you know, do some magic. The great contributor to that skill is Muscle Memory. As a card technician, I learned more about muscle memory because I’m required to do f*cking impossible moves without even thinking how to do it. Imagine this kind of magician, “Look at this card. Wait — (trying to do a move) — Uh uh wait— (still trying to do the move) — and the card is gone!”. I’m sure you will be amazed by the pure stupidity presented by that magician. I usually practice moves slowly like a dumb and through time the speed will come and I can do the move like it’s a 2nd nature to me. Guess what? That very same skill, dexterous and fast hands/fingers, is also required as a programmer — Typing! But wait there’s more! It is also applicable on playing guitar! Now, every time I need to practice keyboard typing or guitar playing, I just follow the same slowly-like-a-dumb approach. Did I just hit 3 birds in one stone?!

So to start this coming year, here are some of the things I want to learn:

1. Juggling
I don’t know why, but when I saw Adam Savage did some juggling on one episode of Mythbusters, I felt a blast of nerdgasm inside me!

2. Trachtenberg System
I’m actually studying this speed math system back in my college days. But due to lack of practice I forgot it again. So I’ll be learning this again this 2012 and maybe it can help me to do some speed calculations in billiards!

3. Writing
I’m a frustrated writer! f*ck! Sorry for this article. The grammatical mistakes here is too damn high! So I’ll study more about this mysterious art of writing this coming year.

memegenerator.net

come on!

Finally after all of these shitloads, it boils down to this one simple idea, to become a Jack of All Trades, Master of ONE guy/gal. Spice up your new year by creating a list of things you want to learn. Decide which one is your wife, and which are your kids.

Happy New Year Everyone!