Great Work Quotes #11
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
~ Robert Anson Heinlein
So how do you rate? (I think I score about 9 out of 21.)
=> What are you specializing in? What if you were truly committed to that? What would that look like?
=> What else can you do? What can you do adequately? (Adequate is what you should be striving for most of the time).
=> What’s your Great Work? What help do you need with that? What specialists can you call in?
I am clearly an insect. Butcher a hog??? How about a chicken? Roasted, that is. I’ll get back to you on the last one. Is this the science fiction writer – he was my fav when I was a kid.
Love the Blog, Michael!
I agree with Jennifer; the last one is hard to claim. Actually it’s a macho list, invading, butchering, dying gallantly. When Heinlein says “a human being” being he’s clearly thinking “bloke.” But then, that’s how us blokes work. In fact I have done most of this list, excluding the invading, fighting, dying and hardest of all, balancing accounts. Never done it. Don’t believe I ever will. But I take heart from a billboard I saw out on the Western Plains on a recent trip: picture of a huge Mack truck rumbling out of a sunlit dust haze, with the slogan “They don’t write songs about accountants.”
Specialists have more facts. Generalists like us have more fun. Look forward to your Sydney session in Decmber Michael.
If you are in wilderness survival mode then, yeah, there isn’t much room for specialization. Perhaps in a post apocalyptic world the survival of the species may be determined by the ability to do everything you need to survive without help. However, in society you will quickly end up on the bottom of the earnings ladder if you don’t find something specialized to do and do it well.
I have always wanted to be a jack of all trades because focusing in on only one aspect of something makes you miss out on the many different opportunities and experiences in this wide world. I have pushed to not specialize in any one thing. Now I may not have ever butchered a hog or set a bone but I would be more than willing to do it if the circumstances called for it. I am an open person that is willing to try anything once (or twice for that matter). I read this quote and it automatically reminded me of the many roles that I play in a given day in my professional and personal life. I was even more thrilled to see that it was said by Mr. Heinlein himself, I love all of his stuff and find him to be a very intriguing man. Thank you for finding this quote, I have not seen it before and always enjoy bits like this.
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