Max/Min or Well Rounded?

I’ve been thinking about whether it’s better to be really good at one thing, and alright at a few other things, or better to be pretty good at a lot of things. What is considered to have more value? If you have the best roundhouse in the world but you can’t punch worth beans is it as good as having strong punches AND kicks? People who are really good at one thing tend to get more praise for their skill than those that are well rounded. Do we only have so much we can focus on at one time without everything suffering? Is it impossible to be really good at everything? I’m beginning to think so. I think there is a threshold, when your skills reach a high level, that you can maintain across the board, but to go further, to really work on a certain skill and push it to amazing levels; you have to sacrifice other skills.

People can only handle so much at once. If you take on too much at once and try to do too many things at the same time, the quality of everything you do will decrease. I’m beginning to think there’s a fine line between living to the best of your ability, going full tilt and excelling, and doing too much, spreading yourself thin and going nowhere. For the first time in my life, doing the UBBT, I feel like I’ve actually reached that threshold a few times. I’ve been trying to go hard every day of the week but it’s hard to maintain, I’ve only pulled it off a few times in fact. We do need a certain amount of rest and time to heal so that we can perform to the best of our abilities. Sometimes after going hard for 3-4 days in a row I find I simply don’t have the energy to continue going at the same pace. Obviously this threshold can be increased and we can strengthen our endurance. It just takes time and lots of work, its unfortunate how much easier it is to lose endurance than gain it; even minor injuries can be devastating.

I think I value well roundness more than specialization. It seems to be much more practical in the long run. I believe it has a stronger, subtler, influence over the entirety of our lives. Specialization is certainly a worthy approach, and can probably earn you more fame and recognition, but it means you’re always doing the same thing and you’ll probably end up taking the same approach to every challenge. That’s my opinion anyway, maybe this is why I never do that well at Diablo 2.