Polymath. Multidisciplinary. Multipotentialite. Fucked.

Creative curiosity has driven me to explore many different mediums over time. I’ve had adventures in music production, web design, vegan cheese, graphic design, game development, brand strategy and photography, and aside from photography, have professional level skills in all of them (believe me this brutalist website was harder to make than an off-the-shelf WordPress theme).

There may be other people who have thrived while being good at many things. I’m not one of them. While I’m proud of my journey, I’m a little disappointed I never stuck with any one thing long enough to really make something of it. When the going got tough, I got going – in another direction. Each time this happened precious momentum was lost. And while I do carry those experiences with me and have the opportunity to make something of them many years later, at the time, it was a major loss and I didn’t realise how limited my time was.

I have never been a very disciplined person, and have always succumbed to whims. Where would I be today if I had continued making music, my first major creative endeavour, beyond my early 20s? I mean as my only focus. Probably very very far down that road. In any case, not in a worse position that I am now, I’m sure of that. And I can repeat this what if question at least three more times for other endeavours.

So if you’re a polymath, don’t be too proud. The chances are you’ll be smarter about it than I was. But think about defining your main skill, the vertical part of your T (lateral being width, vertical being depth).

One thing I have learned after exploring creativity in many mediums, is that creativity is the thing I am primarily interested in – not the medium. Perhaps developing depth in one area, and maintaining momentum, will allow for a greater exploration of creativity. Which medium will I choose to develop new depth in?

To tell the truth, it might be too late for me to do this. I have reasonable depth in many of them, but this took me decades and was not financially viable. I might have to be content commenting on creativity from the sidelines, as someone who never quite committed. We’ll see.

And you? Hit me up on twitter (footer or header link).