I am now a proud owner of an 18' x 20' plot at one of the community gardens in town. 

The "community garden" movement has been spreading like wildfire in communities around the country.  I heard about it many months ago but didn't pay enough attention to it until now.  My mother has been complaining about how our apartment patios don't get enough sunlight and therefore our plants do not grow big enough.  After about a year of this complaining, I couldn't take it anymore and decided to get her a plot in the community garden.  I hope that she'll keep this gardening up once the new plot is available to us (this Friday!).  She has been annoying me by complaining about not having enough space and sunlight when currently she doesn't take much care of our own patio garden.  Anyhow, I'm all for finding ways to make/keep my mother happy and busy.

I was going to wait until we get a house so we can design our own garden but my attempts at house hunting is progressing too slow.  If we don't begin seeding now, there will be no harvest come summer.  It'll be great to spend some time with my mom and learn something useful from her.  It's been hard on me to see her growing older everyday yet I have less and less time to spend with her because I'm working to build my (our) future.  Aside from taking time away from work to travel with her, I think this is another great way we can bond.  Besides, wouldn't it be great to eat fresh veggies and fruits every day?  And have fresh cut flowers in your house all the time?  Any leftovers can be given to friends, neighbors, coworkers, or the food bank.  What the heck, $25 annual fee for the community garden plot with access to water and gardening tools is well worth it. 

The only problem I have is that I am terrified of worms.  TER-RI-FIED.  But I'm going to try it...I'm going to see how green my fingers are. 

New Years Resolution #112 -- grow a garden -- ACCOMPLISHED.   

I'm alive.

Sometimes, you gotta declutter.  Decluttering your life, your responsibilities, your thoughts will relieve a lot of unnecessary stress.  Spring cleaning was awesome.  It was therapeutic.  I bet I could get rid of another one-third of my belongings if I really wanted to invest more time in the cleaning process...but I am satisfied with what organization I've already accomplished in decluttering material junk.  Any more time spent spring cleaning would not produce that much more joy.  Now I have less things to keep track of and more time to devote to whatever it is I want! 

Business activities and productivities have increased.  It is a never-ending process to simplify what I know in order to convey the information effectively to multiply production (whether it be knowledge transfer or cashflow).  I used to think the more I know, the more information I share, the more they will listen to me.  It is not about what I know, even though I may know a lot; I just need to be simple and honest.  The rest takes care of itself.  20% of the work produces 80% of the results.  Focus on the 20%!

Have you decluttered your life lately? 

I resumed house hunting ... it is my biggest distraction.  Instead of being productive or devoting time to doing something spectacular (like playing Scrabble or touring Point Reyes, CA!), I spend about an hour a day looking at new listings and double checking my decision making process.  My agent is getting annoyed with his diminishing rate of return as he spends more time gathering me information and taking me on home tours.  I think by the end of this ordeal, he will make a whopping $5 per hour. 

What's up with you?  Let me know...

Written by Tim Ferriss

Specialization isn’t always a good thing.

Are the days of Da Vinci dead? Is it possible to, at once, be a world-class painter, engineer, scientist, and more?

“No way. Those times are long gone. Nothing was discovered then. Now the best you can do is pick your field and master it.”

The devout specialist is fond of labeling the impetuous learner–Da Vinci and Ben Franklin being just two forgotten examples–”jack of all trades, master of none.” The chorus unites: In the modern world, it is he who specializes who survives and thrives. There is no place for Renaissance men or women. Starry-eyed amateurs.

Is it true? I don’t think so. Here are the top five reasons why being a “jack of all trades,” what I prefer to call a “generalist,” is making a comeback:

5) “Jack of all trades, master of none” is an artificial pairing.

It is entirely possible to be a jack of all trades, master of many. How? Specialists overestimate the time needed to “master” a skill and confuse “master” with “perfect”…

Generalists recognize that the 80/20 principle applies to skills: 20% of a language’s vocabulary will enable you to communicate and understand at least 80%, 20% of a dance like tango (lead and footwork) separates the novice from the pro, 20% of the moves in a sport account for 80% of the scoring, etc. Is this settling for mediocre?

Not at all. Generalists take the condensed study up to, but not beyond, the point of rapidly diminishing returns. There is perhaps a 5% comprehension difference between the focused generalist who studies Japanese systematically for 2 years vs. the specialist who studies Japanese for 10 with the lack of urgency typical of those who claim that something “takes a lifetime to learn.” Hogwash. Based on my experience and research, it is possible to become world-class in almost any skill within one year.

4) In a world of dogmatic specialists, it’s the generalist who ends up running the show.

Is the CEO a better accountant than the CPA? Is Steve Jobs a better programmer than the iTunes VP of Engineering? No, but he has a broad range of skills and sees the unseen interconnectedness. As technology becomes a commodity with the democratization of information, it’s the big-picture generalists who will predict, innovate, and rise to power fastest. There is a reason military “generals” are called such.

3) Boredom is failure.

In a first-world economy where we have the physical necessities covered with even low-class income, Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs drives us to need more for any measure of comparative “success.” Lack of intellectual stimulation, not superlative material wealth, is what drives us to depression and emotional bankruptcy. Generalizing and experimenting prevents this, while over-specialization guarantees it.

2) Diversity of intellectual playgrounds breeds confidence instead of fear of the unknown.

It also breeds empathy with the broadest range of human conditions and appreciation of the broadest range of human accomplishments. The alternative is the defensive xenophobia and smugness uniquely common to those whose identities are defined by their job title or single skill, which they pursue out of obligation and not enjoyment.

1) It’s more fun, in the most serious existential sense.

The jack of all trades maximizes his number of peak experiences in life and learns to enjoy the pursuit of excellence unrelated to material gain, all while finding the few things he is truly uniquely suited to dominate.

The specialist who imprisons himself in self-inflicted one-dimensionality — pursuing and impossible perfection — spends decades stagnant or making imperceptible incremental improvements while the curious generalist consistently measures improvement in quantum leaps. It is only the latter who enjoys the process of pursuing excellence.

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Don’t put on experiential blinders in the name of specializing. It’s both unnecessary and crippling. Those who label you a “jack of all trades, master of none” are seldom satisfied with themselves.

Why take their advice?

Here is a description of the incredible Alfred Lee Loomis, a generalist of the highest order who changed the course of World War II with his private science experiments, here taken from the incredible portrait of his life, Tuxedo Park:

Loomis did not conform to the conventional measure of a great scientist. He was too complex to categorize — financier, philanthropist, society figure, physicist, inventor, amateur, dilettante — a contradiction in terms.

Be too complex to categorize.

Look far and wide.  There are worlds to conquer.

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