"A jack of all trades is a master of none, but better than a master of one."

We are born with at least one talent. It's not always so obvious, especially as a child. Sometimes we don't realize it's a talent until someone points out how well we do something, or it slowly reveals itself over time.

Skills are a little different. Skills are something that anyone can pick up and practice over time to become the best that they can be at it. Although you may not be born knowing how to do a certain thing, you can surely study it and add it to your list of abilities.

I believe that it pays to master your talents and hone whatever skills you pick up in your lifetime for two reasons: you never know when a specific service is needed and they can serve as a type of currency in some situations.

So first, you never know when a specific talent, skill, or service is needed. If everyone only had one talent and/or skill, societies and communities would not survive. Esepcially in today's age. With the amount of modern day amenities that we live with today, we need many people to have the appropiate skills and talents to maintain and operate those amenities.

Not only that, but imagine that you only have one skill or talent and that's how you maintain your lifestyle. There's likely to come a time when your single, specific ability is not needed. If you're not living well below your means, you'd suffer a pause in the lifestyle you're used to.

Now I'm clearly not talking about regular 9-5s here. This is more so for people who don't work a "regular" job, and let's face it, there are less and less people who are wanting to. This is for entrepreneurs, self-employed individuals, business owners, or those looking to leave the work force.

It pays to have more than one thing you can offer your community. If you fix all the roofs in the neighborhood, you'd be out of work for years. Why not learn how to maintain other parts of the same houses?

Second, your specific talents and skills can serve as a type of currency in some situations. Money is a tool. That's it. Money itself cannot provide us with the direct results that we get from the products it buys. You can't eat money. You can't drive it. It won't build a great house at all. It's just the middle man.

Before there was such a large need for money, there was a bartering system. And while I have dreams and visions of us going back to such a system, I'll save that for another blog.

Although it is not super common, bartering still exists. You may come across unique opportunities in which you are offered something you want or need in exchange for a service. Let's say you have a large potato farm but you've been trying to figure out a way to make your automatic sprinkler system more high tech. Spirit could lead you to a perfect opportunity with an individual who can give you the perfect piece of tech you need in exchange for a winter's supply of potatoes. No money involved! Just two individuals with great talents and skills.

That's somewhat of a crude example, but you get the point. Sometimes you get what you're looking for through a simple trade instead of a transaction. If you've not mastered your talents or gathered any skills, you'd be depending on only one way of getting what you want and need: money. And society doesn't always make it super easy to obtain.

So what's your talent(s)? Master them. While you're at it, why not pick up and hone skills that are related to your talent? You could even venture into something of interest that is unrelated. You never know when someone will need that service, and how much it can really pay off!