The Case Against Diversifying
Narrowing your focus might be the key to genuine happiness
Multitasking seems to be all the rage these days.
Having Claude CoWork write your schedule for you to start the day while you’re having your coffee, in the shower, all while scrolling through your social feed in the morning.
Okay, maybe it’s not that extreme. Or is it?
The productivity obsession naturally leads most of the young go-getters of this era to feel like we’re never doing enough, so we must overcompensate by having multiple things going on at once.
That extends to long-term goals, too. Because of our current dire economic times, people are deciding that multiple streams of income and side hustles are necessary to make a living these days.
To be totally honest with you, I wrote that previous sentence not knowing how many young people are actually “polyworking.” But a quick search shows that more than half of young people (aged 26-41) are working more than one job to make ends meet and earn disposable cash.
“The data indicates that among those working multiple jobs, most believe one extra side gig is not enough. Nearly a quarter (24%) have three jobs, and a third (33%) have four or more income-earning opportunities outside their full-time work.
Reasons for wanting extra pay include adding to savings, pursuing personal interests, gaining skills for career advancement, or improving work-life balance. Surveyors did not ask if this group was working to support families or adjust to rising costs of living, two points that would have been valuable. However, they did quantify the amount of time spent on side hustles, with nearly two-thirds saying the time equates to a part-time job, with five to 20 hours per week spent in addition to their full-time work.
The obsession with doing more is enticing.
Having multiple things going on makes someone feel important.
Filling your day with tasks and pseudo-bragging to friends when you have to cancel plans because you’re “too busy” feels rewarding in a way.
But multitasking, whether micro or macro, is not efficient. Nor is it rewarding in the long term.
Juggling multiple things has been known to lead to a self-reported increase in overall stress, and a general lowering of overall productivity (probably) from lack of energy.
And neurologically, it leads to excess stimulation of the neural pathways responsible for arousal. Over a certain period of time, this level of stimulus leads to increased levels of anxiety and depression.
Brain hyperactivity from multitasking dampens one’s ability to absorb information, which can lead to a cognitive strain that heightens one’s stress responses. Essentially, those who take on too much multitasking load are asking for potential mental health issues.
And while an undetermined percentage of people might be able to get by with multitasking due to cognitive predispositions, as a whole, I’d argue there is a lack of fulfilment that comes with multitasking.
I’m making the argument for solotasking today, not just in the seconds and minutes throughout the day, but in one’s life pursuits.
The Argument for Obsessing Over The One Thing
Stepping away from the scientific papers and articles, I have not come across many people lately who are solely obsessed with one thing.
The rarity of this makes me think that there needs to be more of it.
Having one thing that you’re passionate about — a career pursuit, a sport, a newsletter, or a book — might be the antidote for rediscovering happiness.
Understanding what I understand about cognitive health, I know the human brain has evolved to reject contentment.
We can’t simply achieve something and be happy with that. We always ask, “What’s next? What more can I do?”
Imagine being a high achiever in multiple pursuits. At what point do you have any time to celebrate your achievements if you’re constantly looking for other milestones? There is no “reward,” only tasks, so our feedback loop of dopamine is skewed.
When you hone in on, pursue, and OBSESS over just one thing, sure, there is still a chance that someone may find themselves chasing the carrot on the hedonic treadmill.
But there is also something noble about a singular focus on a pursuit that amazes me more than any polyworker could.
Someone who is determined to accomplish one thing, a very specifically outlined goal, will problem-solve in ways most others might not even think of before giving up.
They will attack every angle of every problem to get their result.
It’s that level of willingness to fail and try again that makes the ultimate reward more satisfying. Most people are so scared to fail that they won’t even try all the options.
That’s ultimately how I think some multitaskers and polyworkers attempt to curb the feeling of disappointment.
Failing, to them, is fatal and final, and the idea of sitting with that failure instead of mustering up the strength to try a new approach is too scary.
Their idea of success is a never-empty calendar.
And thus, a never-empty mind.
An empty mind, however, one with time to reflect, actually finds more satisfaction in the idea of reinventing solutions to problems it once stuttered at.
There is a specific type of delayed gratification that one must learn to take on in the solotasking revolution. It’s unlearning the idea that life is full of constant accomplishment.
There will be stumbles and falls.
There will be non-glorious, boring phases of your life that don’t deserve any posts on social media or gloating to friends and family.
But the final reward is sweeter and deserving of the most recognition.
Not only that, but the mind is more at ease throughout.
Stress is not as stressful.
Depression is not a weeks-long cycle.
And failure ceases to be failure.
Instead, it becomes a stepping stone.
A moment to learn. A new opportunity for growth.
If you can gaslight yourself into believing that each of your missteps is destined and not some sad twist of fate, I can almost guarantee your passion project will quickly become an obsession.
Think of this as a call to action. When I hear the phrase “passion project,” it is always alongside a main commitment someone else has.
Writing a book is a passion project aside from a main career.
A website or app to code is a passion project aside from a typical developer job.
Why can’t the passion project be THE project?
Own the Obsession
In my own life, I have always latched on to something for a long time before letting it go.
It’s not easy for me to quit something because there needs to be a forceful, disruptive sign from the universe that that thing is not going my way.
I do not pretend to know that something is not right for me after a few mishaps, deciding that my time is being wasted trying hard right now.
Where’s the fun in that?
I would much rather invest all of my effort into something for a chunk of my life to learn how close I can get to that thing (if I don’t achieve it outright) than quit while I’m ahead because I will learn more about myself in the process of trying toward that thing than I will quitting.
We should be more keen on learning about ourselves. Solotasking can teach us.
Kobe Bryant was once asked whether he cares more about winning or losing.
His response was neither.
Kobe Bryant, one of the most passionate and competitive basketball players to ever play the sport, said he didn’t want to obsess over the duality of winning or losing.
Instead, he said he’d rather focus on “finding out about himself” on a game-by-game basis.
Think about that for a second.
Someone who won throughout most of his career said that winning was not the main thing on his mind.
Because winning and losing are both fear-based mental states — winning being the fear of losing, and losing being the fear of embarrassment — Bryant said his progress throughout was due to compartmentalizing the aspects of his games and seasons that taught him where a strength, weakness, or stalemate was.
Knowing that, why can’t we start to make our pursuits more about trying hard and finding shit out?
Instead of drowning out the critical thinking with endless tasks, why can’t we try hard at ONE thing for a bit, sit with the outcomes, and re-evaluate?
If you’ve read this far, this doesn’t have to be you. You could be a great multitasker who makes multi-millions.
Or maybe, just maybe…
The happiness you’re missing might come from ditching all the auxiliary goals and just having ONE goal.
Think about it.
Think about figuring yourself out.
Not just by thinking about it. But by acting on something.
Maybe the outsized success you’ve been looking for in all your pursuits is waiting for you on the other side of some hard-ass effort toward one of them.