Why do some people think they have to be experts on every single thing under and above the sun?! Why can’t they accept, even laugh at the fact that there are some areas they simply know nothing about?
One of my favorite cookbook authors, and Food Network stars, is Rachael Ray. Some people get hung up on the giggles, others get annoyed with her terminology (sammies, stoup, evoo, Yum-O), and some just don’t like the fact that she isn’t a “trained” chef.
Neither are most grandmothers, Amish women, or apron-wearing backyard ninjas! Since when are chefs the only people who know what tastes good?
As for the giggles and nicknames, big sideways whoop. If you tried to count the number of times I laugh a day, you’d lose track before noon. Happy people laugh, they giggle, and sometimes they act downright silly. But they’re enjoying life… living out loud, if you will.
I’ll take happy, silly people over miserable grouches or bores any day of the week and twice on the weekend.
Love her or hate her, Rachael Ray knows her way around the stove. She’s very good at finding food combinations and at developing her own recipes. As someone who cooks A LOT (and loves it to distraction), I know a thing or two about recipes and, as far as I’m concerned, the Rach is aces
But, get this. She has said many times that she can’t bake. When she needs a dessert, she buys it! She doesn’t try to excel in all areas of life. She specializes and doesn’t try to wear too many darn hats. She simply wears one to perfection.
How do you think the arrangement’s working for her? My guess is each time she looks at the balance of her checkbook she goes, “Hehehehehe. Yum-O!”
Yeah, it’s working just fine.
People who try to wear too many hats upon one unsuspecting head could be annoying if they weren’t so ridiculously funny.
I think it’s refreshing to find people who admit they know less than zero about a certain subject. Know-it-alls are a dime a dozen, and they aren’t even worth that.
Aside from grating on the nerves of those around them, know-it-alls are actually doing themselves a world of harm.
Have you ever known anyone who had a world of potential in a certain area, but tried to do too many other things as well? I’m sure we’ve all met our share of these “mad hatters.”
Take, for example, the president of a company who thinks he/she has to personally write each newsletter, hire each employee, design the company’s website, write the blog posts, star in the commercials, write the radio ads, star in the radio ads, answer every telephone, plan each picnic, coach the softball team, choose the curtains, etc, etc, etc…
Can you guess the pitfall? Nothing will be done as well as it could be or should be. One person isn’t capable of doing absolutely everything. What’s more, the one thing they are SUPPOSED to be doing is getting neglected. Instead of giving it 100 percent of their time and attention, they’ve left it with about 25 percent.
I’m horrendous at math but even I know 25 percent is nowhere as good as 100 percent.
If you think you might be spreading yourself too thin, and not covering things as well as you know you could (or should), you might have fallen into a trap overly-ambitious people often fall prey to. You’re trying to wear too many hats and trying to do too many things. Step back and assess the big picture. In this proverbial picture, if you’re a frazzled mess in the middle trying to balance 25 different hats on your head, you have arrived.
Stop trying to do it all and stop trying to have it all. Enjoy life – it’s a ride that only comes around once!
Moses Jones says
February 10, 2011 at 6:40 pmI’m one of those mad hatters. The bad thing about that is that when we try to do everything, we get disorganized in our minds which will translate to the rest of our lives and we will wind up getting less done as we go along.
There is some point where we must end and allow someone to take it from there.
joi says
February 10, 2011 at 11:21 pmMoses, Wonderful points! When the mind gets disorganized, everything else kind of follows, and it’s all downhill from there.
Andrew @ Blogging Guide says
February 11, 2011 at 1:47 amGreat advice here. Nobody’s perfect and we each have our own flaw and people who admit it and joke about it means they have accepted and doesn’t mind what other people will say. They are truly the happy people.
Daniel says
February 13, 2011 at 6:00 pmMost people who try to be good at everything end up being mediocre at a lot of things. Which is impressive only to sub-mediocre people. Better to be very good at a few important things, I feel. Great article.
Life Coach says
February 16, 2011 at 7:46 amI like this article.. have faith in yourself and in your mind – we don’t yet fully understand why the mind is as powerful as it i,; all that we know is it is very powerful and it would be a shame not to harness that power to our advantage.
Hayden West says
February 16, 2011 at 7:30 pmI love love LOVE her cooking! But you are right! I personally have become victim to my own ambition with writing a book…The first thing I tried to do was the most massive and most amazing…but I’ve learned that you don’t write a book, you write a chapter…and with the chapters written, the book creates itself 🙂
Lindsay Hoffman says
February 17, 2011 at 2:52 amI love this. I never really thought of this to much but your example of Rachel Ray really drives the point that you don’t need to stress to be perfect, that you can become anything you want by being yourself. It is so true that a lot of people get so caught up and stretch themselves so thin that they don’t take a minute to laugh at themselves and forget whats most important. This post reminds me to take a break, smile at the small things, and don’t stress it will all work out. This is a great article.
Sandy says
February 17, 2011 at 3:15 amAccept who you really are, pretending can bring you to
embarassing moment.. be true to yourself..
thanks for the advice..
joi says
February 17, 2011 at 10:20 amSandy, so true! I love the way you word it. Many people DO embarrass themselves greatly by trying to be someone they aren’t – they miss a great opportunity to wow others with their own individuality!
joi says
February 17, 2011 at 10:23 amThanks, Lindsay! I caught myself a few days ago, I was only half paying attention to what I was doing in the kitchen (I added ground cumin to my oatmeal instead of the cinnamon I THOUGHT I’d reached for). I started to kind of stew about it, then I just had to laugh. I didn’t eat it, mind you, but I did laugh! It was a reminder to pay attention to what I’m doing at the time. I tend to daydream and think a lot – sometimes that can be a problem!
David says
February 28, 2011 at 2:02 pmGreat article. I am the kind of person that can fall prey to trying to wear too many hats. So I focus on what my priorities are and stick to them. Afterall, there’s reasoning behind the saying “the jack of all trades is the master of none.”