Suppose that you already have some competency (which if you're here, probably doesn't stress your imagination) and that there's some completely unrelated discipline that you interact with primarily as a spectator/consumer, but that you're vaguely interested in learning. What's your view on deepening your skillset vs. broadening it? Have you been in that situation?
To give a concrete example, if you were a very competent carpenter, would you rather improve your carpenter skills in some way, or learn bakery?

Why not both?

Carpentry vs. Baking skill building.

It would depend on if either was of interest to learn more. Both skills are easy to learn, very hard to master.

Lately I've been making my own bread. Mixing, kneading and doing the first proof in a bread machine. Shaping the loaf and placing in a bread pan for the second proof and then baking it in the oven. Costs more than store bought bread, but then I know what is in it when it is my own.

FYI, carpentry for me would be a hard thing to do. Increasing arthritis in the fingers and hands, along with being clumsy from the get-go. I don't have the patience or the manual dexterity for doing wood work.

Why not both?

Because time allocation is a zero-sum game. There's only one of you, so any time you're doing X, you're not doing not X.
But more importantly, the point of the question is about priorities. What do you value more? Knowing more about one thing, or knowing more things?

It would depend on the practical use of those skills.

If I'm "a very competent carpenter", will improving my skills/knowledge actually make me a better carpenter in a practical sense? Have I reached the law of diminishing returns?

If so, I would opt for the new skill if it's actually interesting/useful. Could bake for someone you like or bake for yourself (though I personally never find the time for stuff like that..).

Not that I wouldn't strive to do both, but there's no rush to be a better carpenter when there's little to benefit.

I still think it is a false dichotomy.

Humans live upwards around 80 to 100 years. I’m currently only 50. That is a lot of time left to learn to do something I enjoy, and I see no reason every second of my remaining time need be prioritized to one specific skill.

I have already mastered a few skills in my life, and have very high ability with many more. And I have passable ability with countless others as well.

As long as you enjoy what you are learning, you should allocate time for it. But you need not allocate all time to a single skill. I actually think it unhealthy to do that.

Sure, sometimes one skill will get a sizable chunk of time allocated to it. For example, when I am practicing a new piece on the violin I will practice several hours a day at the expense of other things I’d like to do, but otherwise as few as ten minutes a day will keep my fingers in the right places and I can focus time on another skill I am interested in.

Learning to balance the time between skills is a more important metric.

To the original example:

helios wrote:
if you were a very competent carpenter, would you rather improve your carpenter skills in some way, or learn bakery?

Simply doing carpentry should include scheduled efforts to improve it.
I can still do something like spend the weekend baking pies and breads etc.

Humans live upwards around 80 to 100 years. I’m currently only 50. That is a lot of time left to learn to do something I enjoy

Nah, I don't agree. For one, I don't really know how long I have left. You can't budget for a resource that you have an unknown quantity of.
Second, speaking for myself, if I want to accomplish a goal and it's going to take longer than ten years, to me that's as good as never. I have no idea who I'll be in ten years; maybe I won't even care about the goal anymore.

But you need not allocate all time to a single skill. I actually think it unhealthy to do that.

No way, it's the best way. The best times were those weeks when I would get out of bed, do one thing for 18 hours straight, and then go back to bed. I wish I could find something else that would grab me by the brain like that.
Mmh... Okay, this has helped. I think I know what I need to do now.

If I were already good enough at carpentry to maintain my job and livelihood, I'd learn how to bake more.

helios wrote:
For one, I don't really know how long I have left. You can't budget for a resource that you have an unknown quantity of.

Sure you can, and people do all the time. Moreover, I think this is another false dichotomy:

It is of course possible that I die tomorrow. But it is unlikely, and I think it counter-productive to not schedule for the future just because I might not experience it.

  • On the one hand (if I die tomorrow), I definitely won’t gain the experience.
  • On the other hand (if I don’t die), then not doing something is simply a bad choice to deprive myself of something I could have enjoyed.

The best times were those weeks when I would get out of bed, do one thing for 18 hours straight, and then go back to bed.

If that is what works for you, then.

this has helped. I think I know what I need to do now.

Nice!

I wish I could find something else that would grab me by the brain like that

That's when something is interesting, has a reasonable learning curve to get started, is practical, and aligns with our goals/priorities in life. They can be difficult to find.

Curious if helios is planning to pick up an interesting new hobby. Baking?

I think one factor in hobbies is the monetary resources needed to do the hobby. Woodworking requires some expensive equipment if you want to do it efficiently. Some musical instruments are very expensive. But drawing, chess, reading, baking/cooking* don't require a lot of monetary cost. Then again, if it's something you enjoy doing, then putting some money into it is certainly worth it.

(*assuming the cost of ingredients is something you're already factoring in as living expenses)

For sports, I would rather diversify than specialize. For example, I'd want to be decent at volleyball, soccer, and pickleball just so I can play with my friends without sucking too much. I don't need to be the next pro athlete :)

Also, if a hobby has secondary benefits, then that's another reason to diversify. For example, weightlifting can be competitive, but also is just overall healthy, assuming you keep good form and don't overdo it. Moderate running improves cardiovascular health, etc.

This entire post is kind of a tangent based on the initial example being a hobby.

Curious if helios is planning to pick up an interesting new hobby. Baking?

Art. Maybe. I tried to get a friend to teach me last year, but he's flaky. I might suggest we try a different method.

I think one factor in hobbies is the monetary resources needed to do the hobby.

That's actually one of the things I like about programming. As long as you have a computer that's powerful enough to run your work, you're only constrained by the time you put in. When I started back in high school I was using a 5-year-old computer (5 years back then mattered a lot) and was using floppies to bring home information and programs I downloaded from Internet cafés.

Art is very rewarding. There is of course, a lot of skills to be learned, but a lot of it is just taking the effort to do something you enjoy. So... 5 stars, would recommend.

Depending on the art you wish to do, though, it can get very expensive.

Come over to my place, I'll teach you some music <3

I'm mostly interested in digital and pencil drawing, so it's relatively cheap, all things considered. I got the itch playing around with Stable Diffusion and getting frustrated by the randomness of the process. I got some impressive results that are tantalizingly off from what I want.

FWI, I was using Stable Diffusion to get a general idea of a commission for that same friend, because he and his wife finally took my advice and want to start taking commissions, but he needs to build a portfolio and doesn't have any ideas.

If anyone wants to try it: https://www.reddit.com/r/StableDiffusion/comments/1de65iz/how_to_run_sd3medium_locally_right_now/
It runs fine with 8 GB of VRAM, but it's tight.

I think you guys covered it... it depends on 2 main things, your actual interest and your resources.

Actual interest... when I was younger I took an interest in hobby gem cutting, but after reading a bit and looking at the cost of equipment and learning more I realized I wasn't THAT interested in it. Other things, I found that I really did want to do them, for example I learned to reload my own ammo to the point that I can even make several types from the 'wrong' components (like for my 1909 rifle, what little is for sale is expensive, but I can make my own at like 10% of the price). One of the few hobbies that actually creates wealth, as it quickly pays for the equipment in terms of money not spent buying ready made.

Resources.. I suspect most people here are well paid such that most reasonable hobbies are not a monetary issue, but space (some take up a LOT of space) and time considerations can put a damper on things in a hurry. My wife made wine for a couple of years and it took up an entire room's worth of space + an hour or so every day or two to tend it.

if you have the interest and resources, there isn't any reason not to do it.