I realised many years ago that I had very diverse interests, and I wanted to try my hand at all of them. One thing that became apparent was how many people suggested that I should turn my attentions to one area where I could get results. I suspected that I could diversify and eventually, I’d have a passable capacity across many skills. What I hadn’t realised was how many crossovers I would find between things that I had tried and things that I wanted to try.

The diagram portrays my interests throughout my life, with each car representing a particular skill. As a very young child, all of these cars would have been parked below the Taking Action line. As a deeply creative person with disparate interests, I aim to see how many cars I can get over the starting line. I'm not fixated on getting lots of cars to the competency line; a few would be great. It’s even less important to get to fluency. For me, it’s having the ability to plausibly engage in any ideas I want to execute.

The more skills that I have attempted, the more likely I am to find skills that I really enjoy. I broaden my abilities and add diversity to my life. The more processes and materials I have had exposure to, the more ambitious I can be with my creations.

I am keen to always be at the very beginning of something. There is something levelling and very humbling when struggling with a new skill as a grown-up. There is a lot to be said for persevering through the first 50 to 100 hours required to formulate an informed opinion about your capacity with a skill. Knowing that I have succeeded at developing skills is a reference point for me and bolsters my perseverance. I don’t always get there, and in some cases, I haven’t got there yet but my interest is piqued.

The key to my musings is to not over-capitalise. Case in point. I recently photographed a jazz trombonist. I dabble with lots of musical instruments and I have always been keen to give the trombone a proper go. After the shoot, she gave me a brief rundown of how the instrument is played and mentioned that "starter" plastic trombones were available very cheaply. The next week, I bought a cheap one second-hand and should be able to sell it for the money I paid for it if I lose interest. I’ll almost certainly die a terrible trombonist but if the process of having a go brings me some knowledge and some joy, it’s time and money well spent. Oh, and a trombone is a very cool-looking object…

I never see it as wasted time if my interest fades, it’s exposure to new ideas. I approach a skillset much like reading a book. I’m speculating. It takes a commitment of time and I have no accurate way to determine whether or not I’ll actually like a book without going through the process of reading it.