Wherever I go, a similar question follows me. Whether playing foosball, singing karaoke, painting, or playing volleyball, people keep asking it. I believe it is because I have a different perspective about getting involved in diverse interests. While many people would agree that it isn’t foolproof to put all your “eggs” in one basket, I take this belief one step further and encourage putting as many eggs into as many baskets as possible.
What do I mean by all this talk about eggs and baskets? What about that question people ask me? Quick context: an egg symbolizes your energy, effort, and hopes, while baskets represent the opportunities or activities that you can put your energy and efforts into. This leads me to the question I get everywhere I go: How do you have so many eggs in so many baskets? Along with the follow-up: Where do you get the eggs? And no, I don’t go to the grocery store for them. Ever since I was a kid, I loved getting involved with anything from modeling to robotics, and I found out that by putting more effort and energy than expected into each thing I tried, I could excel. I would be early and stay late for every club volleyball practice, spend extra time learning how to oil paint, review solfège to improve my singing, and give all my attention and focus when playing a competitive game like foosball. This philosophy sounds intuitive, the more effort you put in, the better results you get, so then why is it so hard to do it for everything? Wouldn’t you run out of eggs and spread yourself too thin? To this, I say you are searching for the wrong things, instead of looking for more eggs, look for the baskets, and the eggs will come.
I believe that if you prioritize what truly matters to you and then allow time for fun hobbies or activities on the side, you can be really good at many diverse things. Once you focus on the opportunities and fun experiences, you will make the eggs for them because you are so excited to do it all. This way, you are putting extra care into the things to most enjoy, and getting better at random side quests. Yes, to be really good at something, it takes willpower, dedication, and persistence, but if you set aside time to perfect something (and touch up on it from time to time), you can have that skill under your belt, appearing like you are really good at multiple differing things—or that you have a bunch of baskets full of eggs. So be brave, push through the fear of failure, try new things, and find what you are deeply passionate about.
So then, yet again, a question arises: how do we find what we are passionate about? Passion doesn’t have to be an activity but rather a way of living; passion is the intersection of energy and interest. Personally, I have a lot of interest and energy to put into learning new activities and developing a diverse skill set. This encourages me to say yes to opportunities, even when they don’t matter to my focus or conventional interests, and expands my experiences and knowledge in very different ways. Now, whenever I see an opportunity for an organization, internship, or event, I prioritize which one of those baskets I think would be the most fun and I make the eggs for it. I am passionately looking for the opportunities instead of the resources and time to put into those opportunities—because once you find what matters to you, again, you will find a way to prioritize it and make it happen. So, find what you are passionate about learning about, what sparks you, what gets you going, and that sense of self and productivity will lead you to explore new avenues and put in effort, energy, and hope for each new opportunity. Even if you fail at the beginning, you will eventually appear to be really good at a bunch of different activities like foosball, singing, painting, or volleyball. Once you find that inner fire, you have an unlimited number of eggs and you’ll be scavenging for the baskets, not the eggs.