Yesterday, I posted a little rant. At first glance, it looked like a rant about blogging, but, if you take a closer look, it was really a rant about obsessing about blogging, which is precisely what I’d been doing before writing it. It’s funny, but no sooner had I scribbled it out, I realized I could just blog and get on with things.
Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket
I guess I’d been putting all my eggs in one basket, the blog basket, and when you do that kind of thing, you can’t help but become terribly afraid of dropping the thing.
In essence, you become a basket case.
Loosen Your Grip on the Handle
But once you realize you can always get another basket and that the world is filled with baskets (as well as eggs), you find that you’re free to skip and whistle and twirl your little basket in the air. The less you worry about something, the easier it is to handle.
Speaking of baskets, can you imagine a basketball player trying to improve his or her skills while treating the ball as if it were filled with explosives? One false move and – BOOM! – game over.
Or imagine what would happen if they only practiced dribbling but never took a shot or made a pass?
Kobe Bryant didn’t acquire his skills by focusing on just one aspect of his game. He spent time on all of them, and as serious as he may sometimes appear, he must have spent a lot of time playing, trying out one angle and then another, stepping off this foot and then the other one, leaping and sprinting and spinning in a series of athletic experiments.
Don’t Be a Basket Case
Obsessing over just one aspect of your game, your art, your business, or your life can leave you deaf and blind to other opportunities for growth and enjoyment.
Don’t become a basket case. Loosen your grip. Give things a twirl. Whistle. Breathe. Relax. Break a few eggs if you have to. The chickens will make more.
Are you getting all the Quiet Inspiration you need? Subscribe to Quiet Inspiration, the Mildly Creative Newsletter. You can also subscribe to these blog posts via RSS feed or by Email.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Ken,
You have a round-about way of illustrating an idea. Your angle is one-of-a-kind: it is unique, which is why I like it. How nice of you to point that out: don’t put all your eggs in one basket works as a metaphor of life. Being a generalist can make life exciting.
We know of (or have heard about) so many people who end up doing only one thing their entire lives. However, there are also some interesting people out there who are good investment bankers, chefs, poets, musicians, gardeners, yoga practitioners, and the list goes on. If you are a generalist–and pursue many “objective interests”–life can be more interesting, you will seldom complain about boredom.
By being fully engaged with life–and cultivating a variety of hobbies–you find that life is personally satisfying and meaningful. And if you get bored with one hobby, pursue another hobby. Hey, never put all your eggs only in one basket!
Thanks, Archan. I always enjoy your comments. They’re like little mini-posts. You inspire me.
I like your idea that “putting all our eggs in one basket” can make us feel concerned that we might “drop” the basket, and if we “loosen our grip” we can be more free. It’s cool that we “can always get another basket”! For me right now, I don’t have all my blogging “eggs in one basket” – i.e. I write about a variety 0f topics, and not just one. I know this may be a bit unusual, but I enjoy the freedom of not having to limit myself to just one area of interest.
I also like what you said about not just focusing on one aspect of things to develop skill – like with painting, there’s our design, use of colour, brush strokes, etc. and we need to work on the various areas to make great art.
Thanks for this encouraging post!
.-= Diane´s last blog ..Haiti Earthquake =-.
hey, what a great way to illustrate a dynamic situation and giving an aswer that can stick to the brain, i will walk and work wit it, not putting all my eggs in one basket give more liberty than the other.
thanks.
dele george, painter in nigeria