Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

1. Use it to your advantage: Being curious and able to satisfy your thirst is incredibly valuable. Foster it and be assured that having diverse knowledge and an open mind can help you in various situations and jobs. Best thing if you are able to find a spot/job where a wider perspective is useful and appreciated. But there is no single job description where this is the case, it is entirely individual.

2. Accept the fact that you will always have a shallower knowledge than people that focus on specific things. Be humble, there will always be someone smarter in the room with knowledge on his favorite topic that you will not be able to match unless you dive way deeper than you are currently willing to go.

3. Realize that your drive for knowledge and understanding is actually a natural thing - I would argue that this is the case for most people, and while some have found ways to satisfy this "need" with random redirection activities (mostly "entertainment" and shopping), some have found "their thing" and are investing their energy into a specific thing - which sometimes is utterly useless (as in "useful for the greater good, humanity, or for someone") , sometimes can be turned into something useful for oneself or for others (e.g. "money in the bank").

4. As soon as you make your hobby your job, it is no longer a hobby, it is now your job. And for most people that means they no longer enjoy it nearly the same way they did before. A envy the few lucky ones where this is not true. You now need a new hobby.

5. Don't forget to enjoy life. If you found something that makes you happy, that is purely awesome! But also realize that you will have to do things that at the same time (1.) keep you from doing what you love, but (2.) also enable you to do what you love. Some people call it their "job". You need money and time, your family needs money and time, your hobby needs money and time. Find a way to sustain all that, so you can do and enjoy the things that make you happy.

I think generalists make good Product Managers. Getting a "good" understanding of all the business functions (tech, analytics, ux/design, sales, legal & regulatory etc) is fundamental to being successful in the role and naturally fits the type of mindset that you describe.

While reading you're more prone to analyze and think about the subject, while videos are sort of mechanized, in which generally people don't pause and reflect on what's being said.

Hi. Maybe I am very much like you? I love reading and completing online courses. Day job as a software dev.

Sometimes it feels like I am wasting my potential; I know so much, usually way more than some dumb manager making decisions somewhere, but it doesn't always come to fruition. That's OK.

The career advice I received that really helped me was not to pick a profession (software dev) but an industry/sector. If you can work in an industry that touches many of your interests, then you will naturally be useful and excel in what you do. Opportunities will arise.

For me, it was the off grid solar sector: It combines technology, renewables, microfinance, economic development, entrepreneurial energy and Southern Hemisphere countries. I enjoy spending my time reading books on the history of Africa (of which I knew nothing) and of renewable technologies. Even the cliche startup/business literature is applicable. I noticed people really valued my knowledge and engagement and opportunities have been coming in steadily. My career path is to climb up from Technical Expert (software dev) to Product Manager, to CTO-for-hire. And then... we'll see.

There should be more sectors like this. Though I understand it may be challenging to switch industries if you have a family.

Actually - in reality i betrayed my ideals and took a quick break from that sector in the wake of the corona crisis, and now I waste my time in a swiss bank collecting a high salary. It does not make me happy. Don't be like me. I really should get back to the off-grid solar sector.

Have been pondering about this a lot as well.

The question is usually two fold: 1) Do I expect an outcome for this learning? 2) Do I do it just for fun?

In the first case, you would need to really establish some goals, deadlines and delve into the topic and thats where it becomes tangible. Because you are trying to achieve something.

The issue I didn't figure out yet is time... For instance, I am learning design, programming and product management all at the same time and quite frankly its too much. So the only way is to do it step by step. Depending on the depth of the discipline (like nuclear physics would literally require you to study for several years), you might want to just focus on one given the limited time. I do it by time-blocking time after work every day.

Then comes the meta-learning part, what is the most effective way? There are countless of pieces written on it, but I recommend Barbara Oakley.

In general it really depends how much energy and time you want to invest and its purpose.

The only thing I recommend is to follow your energy levels and if you feel it's worthy an output, try to write about it TO YOURSELF. Don't try to adapt any sort of writing style to people who are popular, but perhaps you can gain a sense of "tangible" by creating some output to produce some sense-making on the topic for YOURSELF first.

If its just for fun. No pressure just do it whenever.