“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
- Lazarus Long, in Robert Heinlein's Time Enough for Love
Finding focus has long been one of the difficulties of my life, but I have absorbed a few important lessons from my time at this graduate program. One of the many tiny epiphanies which I have internalized is to realize that I do have limitations. There are only so many projects at which even I can multitask before those efforts become distractions to one another, and my performance on all of them begins to suffer. Sometimes less really is more, and a smaller scope can provide more focus on individual projects - and I can really lend them the intensity of analysis that I need to adequately develop their potential.