I was once passing along a street, and on one of
windows of a shop which deals on second hand goods, make no attempt to specialize on a particular brand of products. The owner prefers to accumulate more goods and will accept almost any article be it dirty, damaged or practically useless if he thinks he can sell it.
There is one type of individual who very much resembles "I will buy anything in shop". He has an "I’ll try anything attitude" towards life, and he possesses a "junk shop" mind. He has never learned to specialize on a particular brand of products. He has just gathered in little bits of knowledge here and there, regardless of whether they are any real use to him. He has cluttered up his mind with unwanted scraps of information, allowing them to accumulate until task of sorting them out and getting rid of rubbish proves too great. And for all that, he believes he is a remarkably versatile fellow. He really believes that he can try his hand on anything because he has dabbled in everything. But there lurks danger. The dabbler’ never develops. He never knows enough to be able to apply his knowledge usefully. He knows too little of too many things to ever be really confident of success in one.
A person with an ‘I’ll try anything complex" is not like man who, when asked if he could drive a car, replied, ‘I don’t know, I have never really tried. To person with a junk-shop mentality, many things seem simple because he or she only touches surface. Such people never delve deeply into anything, never probe a problem, or interest themselves in anything long enough to learn very much about it. Lack of knowledge and not lack of opportunity is chief enemy of progress.
A man applied for position of typewriter mechanic. He was a motor engineer. He knew all about cars. He could take down an engine and assemble it again with all its parts in position. But he had never taken down a typewriter. In fact, he had never used a typewriter. But he would soon get into it, he said.
A girl applied for post of shorthand typist. Efficiency and experience were requirements stated in advertisement. She had been a receptionist. The only qualification she had to offer were sound sweet voice and a pleasing appearance, but she wanted a change and thought she could soon pick up typing and shorthand.
There are people who have succeeded in a variety of jobs, but they are exceptions. They have bluffed others into giving them jobs by their keen business acumen, or purely on their personality; they have held on their jobs and even shown creditable performance until wanderlust made them restive. They just walked out and walked into another job. To such folks, life is, and always will be an adventure. Finding new interests is very essence of their existence. But they don’t dabble. In whatever they do, whether they are keeping watch in some lonely outpost, or collecting steel for a steel company or serving in a restaurant, they take their work seriously, gaining experience in a variety of jobs and in a multitude of ways.
