The Benefits of Dabbling

The Dabbler, the Dilettante, the jack of all trades

They rarely get any praise.

In fact we usually look down on them. Today the holy grail is mastery. Master what you do, be the expert, the linchpin, laser-focused on your outcome. Mastery is partner to always being at the absolute edge of what you can do, so you can be the best of the best. Or at the very least, better than you were yesterday.

Dabblers get bored and drop off, they don’t know persistence or grit or determination, the eternal beginner. This is the typical narrative about dabblers. They skate along the surface, never becoming especially good at anything and certainly never pushing their personal edge.

But is this really true?

Nope.

Dabbling isn’t getting a fair shake in today’s peak-performance-obsessed world.

There are many benefits that come from dabbling, and by dabbling I mean trying, experimenting, learning, playing around and then moving on. Although that doesn’t mean you never return and do more dabbling. It means you never take a deep dive and thoroughly explore something. And perhaps most importantly, you never get the attention that comes along with being truly great at something. You will never be better than mediocre at your chosen dabble.

The truth is, that most of us dabble even if we don’t admit to it. Sometimes it’s a matter of time. You just can’t put the time into something that you would like to, so you have…