Are You A Hummingbird Or A Jackhammer?

The lovely Elizabeth Gilbert said that there were two kinds of people in the world. Jack Hammers and Hummingbirds.

Jackhammers as you guessed, are people who are consumed with their work and passion that hammers away until the work is done.

And then there’s the hummingbird.

"Hummingbirds spend their lives doing it very differently. They move from tree to tree, from flower to flower, to field to field... Trying this, trying that. They create incredibly rich, complex lives for themselves and they also end up cross-pollinating. That is the service you do if you are a hummingbird person," -Elizabeth Gilbert

I am definitely a hummingbird, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I want to cross-pollinate ideas, cultures across disciples and and industries. I want a life rich with experience and understanding.

This kind of personality does lead to stress and anxiety at times - I started a podcast that I laid gently near the wayside.

I have two Instagram pages devoted two different genres. One for books & one for wellness. So this means that these projects have been growing painfully slowly, but it’s all good.

I want to be a polymath, a multi-hyphenate… like the great Walt Whitman said,

“I am large. I contain multitudes.” Walt Whitman

The word polymath seems very highfalutin and egotistical but it’s really not. It’s translated to “many-learning.”

If this is resonating with you I recommend you watch this Ted Talk by Ella Saltmarshe.….. I listened to it maybe 8 years ago and it changed my life, and I think about it often.

Here’s a snippet:

“The world needs you in all your multi-faceted glory. That developing diverse skills can developing diverse skills can amplify your impact not diminish it. And that all

of us specialists and generalists alike can learn from the craft of the polymath.”

I also think it’s helpful to take note of the people who are doing it well and use them as your inspiration. Thinking of doing maybe a poly-math series, would you be interested?

Also the podcast More Than One Thing is a lovely thing to listen to whenever you have doubts.

Be Well,