What Value Could You Create If You Stopped Trying to Be Good at Everything?

You could unlock deeper creativity, sharper impact, and authentic growth by doing fewer things better—and letting the rest go.

The Problem with Trying to Be Good at Everything

We live in a culture that lionizes versatility. Job postings list laundry lists of skills. Social feeds show people excelling in fitness, business, relationships, parenting, travel, and interior design—all before breakfast. Somewhere along the way, “well-rounded” stopped meaning competent and started meaning superhuman.

But the truth is, trying to be good at everything is not a virtue. It’s a trap.

Not only is it cognitively exhausting, it dilutes impact. You spend so much time optimizing weaknesses that your natural strengths atrophy. You’re “fine” instead of being extraordinary. You become the Swiss Army knife in a world that sometimes just needs a scalpel.

So let’s ask the question again—what value could you create if you stopped trying to be good at everything?

What Can Be Proven, and What Cannot?

We can measure: Time saved, energy focused, and skill mastery when people specialize.

We cannot fully quantify: The exact opportunity cost of spreading yourself too thin—but we see its fingerprints everywhere: burnout, mediocrity, stalled growth.

Psychologists call it “ego depletion.” Cognitive scientists call it “task switching cost.” Strategists call it “dilution of value.” Whatever the frame, the evidence is clear: trying to do too much makes you worse at almost everything.

But What If I Want to Be Well-Rounded? (And Other Objections)

Fair objection: “Isn’t it risky to put all your eggs in one basket?”

It’s not about having only one skill. It’s about prioritizing depth over breadth. Mastery in one domain can often translate across others. A great coder who understands design principles can outperform someone who is just okay at both.

Another pushback: “But what if I enjoy being a generalist?” Great! The key isn’t to become narrow—it’s to become intentional. Choose breadth with purpose, not by default. Don’t confuse “can do” with “must do.”

Reframing the Question: Necessary or Merely Attractive?

Here’s the distinction that shifts everything: Is being good at everything necessary—or merely attractive?

Being “good enough” at a few supporting things (email, communication, basic math) might be necessary. But chasing excellence in everything? That’s a performance rooted in fear—fear of being left out, left behind, or left unimpressive.

But if value creation is your goal, your best returns come from deepening, not scattering.

A Philosophical Lens: David Hume and the Fallacy of Uniform Excellence

David Hume, 18th-century philosopher and radical empiricist, warned us not to mistake correlation for causation. Just because someone seems excellent across many domains doesn’t mean all those domains caused their success.

Hume might argue that the myth of the polymath is often misunderstood. The Leonardo da Vincis of the world didn’t try to be good at everything. They chased intense curiosity wherever it led, often circling around a core strength—in Leonardo’s case, observation and systems.

The illusion of “uniform excellence” is just that—an illusion. More often, greatness comes from focusing on what only you can do.

From Explanation to Prediction: What Happens When You Let Go

Consider two founders:

• Alex tries to manage every team directly. They burn out, and their product stagnates.
• Sam builds a product no one else could, and hires experts for everything else. The company flourishes.

Or think of artists:

• The Beatles were a sensation not because they were great at everything, but because they went deep into melody, harmony, and emotional texture. Ringo wasn’t the world’s best drummer. But he was perfect for what they needed.

When you stop diluting your focus, you start amplifying your distinctiveness. That creates more value—for you and everyone around you.

The Interpretability Trade-Off: Depth Over Breadth Comes at a Cost

There’s a risk: You may become less “legible” to others.

Generalists are easy to plug into job descriptions. Specialists—especially unconventional ones—require vision to appreciate. The world doesn’t always reward deep weirdness immediately.

But the long-term return? Outsized.

When you stop trying to be good at everything, you become truly great at something. And that’s where leverage lives.

Bookmarked for You

The One Thing by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan – What’s the one thing you could focus on, such that by doing it, everything else becomes easier or unnecessary?

So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport – What if the key to fulfillment isn’t following your passion, but getting so good they can’t ignore you?

Mastery by Robert Greene – What would change if you approached your craft not as a hustle, but as a lifelong path to mastery?

QuestionStrings to Practice

QuestionStrings are deliberately ordered sequences of questions in which each answer fuels the next, creating a compounding ladder of insight that drives progressively deeper understanding. What to do next: Identify what you’re really good at.

What’s one skill or domain where people consistently seek my help? →

What would happen if I focused 80% of my effort there for six months? →

Which things am I maintaining out of fear, not purpose? →

What would I gain—and lose—by letting them go? →

How would doubling down on one strength change the way I’m perceived?

Closing Thought: The Bonsai and the Oak

A bonsai tree and an oak tree both start as seeds. But the bonsai, pruned and cultivated with focus, becomes a living sculpture. The oak, left to deepen its roots and reach skyward, becomes a towering presence.

Trying to be good at everything is like scattering seeds on concrete. But when you plant deep and prune well, you grow something worth noticing. At least that’s one perspective