Our culture demands specialty. In order to be considered good at, professional, or an expert, you have to have dedicated your life in its entirety to the cause. We see this all the time in traditional college. Kids join their peers in the quest for specialization, all the while waiting until their junior year to really nail down that focus, a majority not even using that expertise following college.
And I don’t blame them. How can I?
I haven’t known what I want to be when I grow up. Ever. Because I want to be it all.
Midwife.
Photographer.
Piano soloist who creates CD’s.
Author.
Web developer.
And you know the only area that I can actually be considered an expert? You’ll never guess.
Dishes. That’s right. In order to be an expert, you have to have done a particular task for 10,000 hours. Well, I have officially accomplished that feat and have my certificate of completion gracing my wall. My official title is Lauren Reed, D.W. (dishwasher).
I am SO grateful I didn’t feel like I had to settle for one thing, or one area of expertise. Because I want to do it all. Always have and always will. It’s my personality, I guess.
I want to encourage you that you don’t have to settle for one thing either. Maybe you’ve reached “that age” and it’s time to put your foot down on what you want to be for the rest of your life. If you know, then by all means, great news! But if you don’t, don’t let it eat you. And by that I don’t mean do nothing. I mean do multiple things. Do it all, if you want. Don’t settle for nothing because you can’t find the one thing. And don’t settle for one thing because you can’t do it all.
Practically speaking, I started up a photography business right out of high school. If you’ve ever started a business, you might know it’s not as easy as 3 steps to launch. It took hours of research, application, study and experience to get my business up and running.
I didn’t necessarily expect to start a photography business right out of high school. But I took the step that was right in front of me. I used my dad’s Canon Rebel xti and invested in a $400 50mm lens. Man that felt like a big purchase for my little wallet. But with time, energy, effort, and patience, that work paid off.
Another door opened about a year later to start a business selling all natural herbal products. I poured myself into that business, learning loads about building websites, marketing, utilizing social media for good, and communicating effectively.
All of this goes to say, take each thing that comes your way as a learning experience. I took my photography knowledge and applied it to our herbal business. It came in handy to know how to use light and photograph products for our store. It also helped that I had built my photography site and could apply that knowledge to start an e-commerce storefront.
Our family recently started a YouTube channel. I’ve been pouring my time into understanding Final Cut Pro, how to use the Canon R6 for video, and watching copious amounts of documentaries to learn to make my own. And not only is videography a useful skill to learn, but the ability to make good quality videos helps drive traffic to our website and social media platforms while simultaneously encouraging and inspiring others to live sustainably.
My post in this point, I mean my point in this post, is to take each lesson, learn it, remember it, and apply it to the next thing. Don’t think photography is only for weddings, web design is only for the pros, and videography is too complicated.
Photography teaches camera mechanics, business principles, understanding light, interacting with varied clients, dealing with difficult situations, learning to edit, deciding on a gallery service, and the list goes on.
Web development teaches patience when your site crashes, attention to detail, knowledge in the basics of optimized performance and SEO, how to use plugins, and again the list goes on.
Videography teaches how to hold a camera steady, why regular old audio won’t work for a documentary, how to utilize shortcuts, use the transform tool, and utilize the keyer effect on a green screen PNG to create a luxurious party popper effect. (I was proud of that, ok?)
See? Knowledge isn’t useless! It’s great. And it helps you get ready for the next thing.
Thank you, folks, for bearing with me as I try to pound out my thoughts.
In summary, lessons are never useless. They lend themselves useful for the next thing!
Have a delicious and joy-filled rest of your Tuesday, friends!
Joyfully,
Lauren