Is the phrase that starts this blog; coming from the song Frankenstein Posmo by El Cuarteto de Nos. A phrase that, since last year, was capable of describing an awkward feeling for which it was hard to find words to describe. Today, I want to diseminate such a feeling and do a little introspection on why, despite the negative connotation that this phrase may evoke, I have interiorized it as something positive that fills me with motivation.
This phrase is an antithesis of the well-known adage from Gestalt Phycology:
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
To explain it, I will use a simple example (even though it trivializes Gestalt Physocology a lot): If we take a car 🚗, and we dismantled it until we are left with its most basic parts (screws, metal plates, pistons, etc); these alone would have a lesser value (in terms of money and usefulness) than when they were together ensembled as a car.
Although it is fairly easy to extrapolate the adage to objects or organic structures (cells, DNA); it is more complicated when we try to extrapolate it to humans. Not in a physical sense, but in a psychological one. Are we more than the sum of our parts? Are our qualities and skills more being together within us? If we are talking about qualities, we could start a big debate. What happens if we combine our leadership and honesty with our pride and lack of patience? Is this combination of qualities better together? Do the “bad” ones potentiate the “good” ones? It is hard to analyze and to come to a conclusion.
However, when talking about skills, it is a more pragmatic analysis. The more skills we acquire, the more prepared of a person we are (regardless of them being soft or hard skills). This is somewhat reflected in the feeling of happiness and self-accomplishment that we (usually) feel when we learn something new.
Reflecting a bit, I realize that throughout my life, I have acquired skills and hobbies discordant between them: making music, doing scientific research, programming, teaching, video editing, coffee science, etc. And it is not that I have ever felt a lack of satisfaction while learning these.
But then, why do I feel that my whole is less than the sum of my parts? Well…
Am I an expert in making music? No.
Am I an expert guitarrist? No.
Am I an expert in some science? No.
Am I an expert programmer? No.
Am I a successful YouTuber? Of course not.
Combined with my introverted self, it has become very difficult to find the words to describe myself (in terms of what I do). How could I describe myself as a musician when my “job” is to be a researcher? And then, it bummers me to describe myself solely as a researcher, since I do not want to keep aside the fact that I make music. It was an awkward feeling that made me think that I was not good enough in anything I was doing; that I always left everything “incomplete”; and that I was walking towards an unknown goal in life.
But, is it really more to be an utter expert in one thing than to know a bit of a bunch of things? This is the question that I have reflected on, and that has started a debate within me.
Eventually, I understood that my initial objective when starting to learn a new skill or starting a new hobby was never to become an utterly expert in it. I did it to enjoy the learning process, to fail and start again, to prove to myself that I am capable; to be happy of having learned something new and to have something more to share with other people. And above all things, I could understand that it is normal to find myself inside a constant learning loop; as long as I am enjoying myself in the process. In the same way, I understood that it is not necessary that I “leave a legacy” to feel that I am enough. As Tony from P90X used to say: “Do your best, and forget the rest” (in Spanish it does not sound that cool though)
Do I like to do a bunch of things without mastering any of them? Of course! Each one of them has a space within my heart. I love to see how I am helping other people to progress in their professional careers with my courses. I love to teach. I love to make music. And I would not be happy to stop doing one thing in favour of another. If not the opposite, I am grateful that it can be that way.
Will I one day reach the mastery of something?
I am not sure. But I hope that if that day ever comes, it will not have been at the expense of abandoning another thing that I like.
So…, ¿Is my whole much less than the sum of my parts?
I would say no. And I hope I’m not wrong!
Therefore, I encourage you to never lose the motivation to learn new things, acquire a new skill, or start a new hobby. Especially if you are surfing through waves of stress; learning new things out of your comfort zone can be an amazing experience, full of surprises, self-accomplishment and happiness.