Hello,


Firstly, I want to say that I am a oversea Chinese and I really respect and value Chinese culture. But there is one thing that I am confused. In Chinese proverbs,there is one"A person who know and can do everything can't be success"(just meaning, I don't remember the actual sentence). Because he/she know many thing and can't concentrate something that he/she have to do. We can see this proverb in many books because many motivational writers use this. I think that this is not too suitable for nowadays. Nowadays, everything is growing and changing very fast. For example, if you are programmer, you have to know not only about programs but also about some knowledge of hardware. If you are in the field of marketing, you have to know another knowledge like concering economics and politics.
So that nowadays, I believed that we have to concentrate on our career and when we have extra times, we need to learn others (may be we like or not). I don't say this proverb is wrong, I just want to say this is not too suitable for nowadays.
Any ideas?
Thank you

I am a programmer. I work in the seismic industry. There is a lot of math and technology that I just don't need to know about. It is important, but if I spend too much time learning and knowing this I won't be able to function. It isn't required that I know this, and I only know what I need to to do my job.

I think the phrasing refers more to indecision. How do you decide to do something, or make any progress, if you know and can do everything? I know it would be hard for me. If I knew everything about stock brokerage and how to make a million dollars there, but I would also want to do wood working and build my house the way I want to and help people on the street.

It is about focus. You can do everything, but if you do then you will do very little.

We all need to be challenged in our thinking no matter how intelligent we are. If we know everything, then where is the challenge. A mind will become lazy and not strive to do better.

Like any saying, you can take it or leave it, and agree or argue.
I argue with it in many fields these days, where we need generalists very much, such as medicine, at not quite as many specialists.
I do agree with it in many ways, however. Even medicine, as long as specialists WORK TOGETHER.
A glaring gap that I found personally in medicine was between MDs and dentists.
If people share their expertise openly, the task at hand gets better attention.

Or.. not every chinese proverb is de facto wisdom that we should take to heart.
Sure we could treat this one like astrology and make it mean something in a vague way.

@nk. You can do better then that !

What... it isn't about any particular field, joy. It is general !

Ain't it great we can decide as individuals what suits us or not? What's wrong with being a jack of all trades and a master of none?