A jack of all trades, master of none?

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Did you all know that Jane of The Borrowed Abode is my neighbor?  She lives down the street from me, and she came over last night to chit chat over some Whole Foods hot bar take out.

We chatted about family and work and the latest and greatest happenings in our lives.  And then, as talk usually goes when two bloggers get together, we started talking about blogging.  Blogs we love.  New blogs we’ve found.  Blogging frustrations.  How much time it takes us to construct a single post.  Getting sucked down the rabbit hole of blogging comparisons.

And then we started chatting about where we see our blog now, and what we want for it in the future.  As two serious bloggers (in that we take our blogs seriously), we want them to be professional, fun, and going someplace.

As we were talking, I shared my frustration with being a sort of niche-less blog.  Jane’s blog has a strong focus on decor and home DIYs.  While my blog…well, I don’t have one specific focus.  I like to write about Project Life one day, share a recipe the next, talk about teaching group fitness, and then some parenting stuff with marriage stuff and life instrospection stuff tossed in.

It’s tough to write a blog like this because content doesn’t come easily.

And then I realized that the same frustrations I find with blogging, I find with myself in my outside the Internet life.

I have friends that are so dedicated to one specific thing.  Some are crafting queens and could spend hours crafting with their kids or DIYing decor for their home.  And other friends are super into photography and spend every spare minute taking beautiful photos.  Other friends love to cook and spend all their free time testing new recipes and taking cooking classes.

But me?  I lack a singular focus.

I love teaching group fitness, and I dedicate more hours than I can count to listening to my music and learning my choreography and training to perfect my technique.  And I also love working on paper crafting like Project Life.  But I also like trying new recipes, and I’m particularly interested in trying some challenging bread recipes.  And I like crafting and writing and photography.

I pinball myself between these different projects.  But as a result, I don’t feel masterful.  Or focused.  Or accomplished.

I wish I could pick one thing to dedicated myself to.  Something I could sink my teeth into and focus on.  But the idea of just picking one thing makes me itchy with boredom.

So, I’ve been wondering: are you the same way?  If so, how do you cope with having ALL THESE INTERESTS.  Or, if you prefer to have just one or two dedicated interests, how did you find this passion and how to you stay interested in that pursuit?  What do you think – jack of all trades, master of none?

  • Marie

    Oh, Sarah, I am so with you! It was especially frustrating for me when I was trying to specialize in a subject for my journalism degree. I felt pressure to be a science writer, or food writer, or anything except “everything.”

    Over the years, though, I’ve come to be more accepting of my widespread interests and talents. The nice thing about specilizing is that you have a focus, but the downside can be that you get boxed in. Like you said, if you only wrote about crafting or only about parenting, you would itch to write about so many other things!

    • http://www.sarahrosemary.com Sarah Bagley

      The hardest part is feeling like I don’t truly accomplish things because I bounce around between different stuff. But I know I do, perhaps just at a slower rate because I’m sharing my energy among multiple interests. And, really, there are worse things have having too many interests ;)

  • http://www.caitidid-designs.blogspot.com/ Caiti

    I hear ya, sister. I wrote about this very topic in one of my Stratejoy posts last year, and I still struggle with it today. My blog is all over the place too– food, intentions/goals, some craft projects, photos, personal musings, etc. And I’m the same way in real life. I’ve spent a lot of time wishing I could find one thing to obsess about, especially because I read stories from bloggers who are obsessed with one or two topics and are achieving great things in those few specific areas.

    But I’m coming to accept that I get inspiration from a lot of different activities and interests. And I think it can work for blogs– I think about Elise Cripe, who is obviously craft focused, but does a lot of different projects, and is interested in food, fitness, etc. Or Amy Estes. Even huge blogs like A Beautiful Mess cover DIY/food/lifestyle. I think of my favorite magazines like Whole Living (R.I.P!) and how they have an umbrella theme (healthy, natural living) with lots of individual topics fitting under that umbrella (food, fashion, skin care, etc). So I say embrace it all! We can’t expect every post to appeal to all our readers anyways, so we should write about whatever we’re passionate about and engage with those who are interested.

    • http://www.sarahrosemary.com Sarah Bagley

      Oh, Caiti, you are so wise! When I see people so strongly focused on one area, I’m so jealous! How cool they can put all their energy into one thing! But, I know that’s not me, so I have to find a way to make how I operate work for me.
      You know what we need? We should start a little group for us “lifestyle” blogger ladies. We can Skype each other and help each other think about our focus (focuses) and where we want to go. Look at me, creating another interest! :)

  • Sarah

    I completely understand, my friend — but one of the things I love MOST about your blog (and Caiti’s!!) is that there is a wide variety of content. Of course, there are some posts that resonate with me more than others, but regardless of what the topic is, I gain insight into you, the writer, and me, the reader. :)

    • http://www.sarahrosemary.com Sarah Bagley

      Thank you, Sarah, I so appreciate your sweet and wise comment. :) I sometimes worry I distance readers with varied content. But you’re right, no matter the blog some content resonates more and some less, and it’s all alright :)

  • http://twitter.com/loveverydaylife Becky

    I feel that way a lot. I have a lifestyle blog but I don’t want to just blog about ONE thing because I don’t want to pigeon-hole myself, but then I look back on posts I write and I’m like “wow….where’s the focus?” As frustrating as it can be, I actually think people who are “jack of all trades” have a better life balance because it’s not one thing all the time. I love the diversity on your blog – keep it up!

    • http://www.sarahrosemary.com Sarah Bagley

      Thank you, Becky, I appreciate your perspective. Agreed, I often think, what is the focus here? But I guess the focus is…lots of stuff. And that’s just fine, right? :)

  • http://www.theborrowedabode.com Jane @ The Borrowed Abode

    First, it was so great to finally catch up with you! I feel like so often our schedules are completely opposite and it can be tricky to meet up – it was long overdue! (Of course, when the day comes that I have a little one. . . wheee! Much more scheduling freedom during the day!)
    Anyway…I thank you for your generosity in mentioning that my blog has a strong focus. I felt like 2012 was the year I completely lost sight of my blog’s purpose and focus, and I blame that mainly on the wedding. It really disrupted my rhythm.
    Sometimes I just want to share something non-DIY/Decor/Small business with my readers, mainly because I do feel like blogging is sitting down to talk to a friend over coffee. And I think that it’s perfectly ok to have a lifestyle blog that covers diverse topics. And I know there are people out there who relate. Anyway, enjoy your diversity!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/marcia.francois Marcia Francois

    I actually love these kinds of blogs most because I feel like they’re (you’re) a friend and we’re chatting about lots of different things, as you do with your real life friends.

    Have only recently started reading you, and Caiti in the comments – loving it!

  • http://lavieoverseas.com/ Natasha

    I have to echo everyone else’s comments that your jack-of-all-trades-ness (not a real noun) is one of the things I love most about your blog. I (unsurprisingly) have my Google Reader sorted into categories, and yours is in “lifestyle blogs.” Those, along with other Foreign Service blogs (which are similar lifestyle blogs, though with a heavier emphasis on travel) are the ones I read most. They keep me guessing — they’re interesting. One day I might find a great recipe, another day a great beauty product tip, another day a funny story about something Kate did …