More Hobbies than James Franco

It takes more than presence to be a renaissance man. I read an article this week that got me thinking about this, a commentator, can’t remember his name, was talking about James Franco and the fact that he makes movies, act in soap opera’s, hosts the oscars and at the same time works on multiple post-graduate degrees. The commentator first questions the quality of American education, if someone can truly accomplish all of that then there is a fundamental problem with the quality of education, to paraphrase, most people who work on Phd have a hard enough time going to see a movie let alone making one. So we have to accept that James Franco is either a superhero or he’s just “showing up”. 

This trend of “showing up” is something I’ve noticed in the last twenty or so years where we are surrounded by overachievers who seem to be part of every club, play eighteen different sports, do quadruple majors in university, and still have time to write the great american novel and deep poetry on the side. Most of them are just showing up. As long as they sign up, go to a couple of meetings, they claim involvement and build up their resume. 

I even know someone who applied at Google and was asked to list their extra-curricular activities as pre-screening criteria. As if whether or not they played sports, were on the debating club, and made their own wrapping paper would make them a better employee. Not only that you would think that big companies were smart enough to know that people who show up aren’t necessarily the ones who are going to be the most innovative and the most creative. But we have entered this world of competitive over achieving. 

I used to wonder how these people did all of this, I have a lot of things going on in my life outside of work but most of these people put me to shame. I probably did a bit too much this summer, between rowing, becoming a personal trainer, studying my guitar exam, cooking class, writing this blog etc. and I’ve learned my lesson, I need some more down time (see my previous post). I’m most creative when i have time to meander through my days. But it’s also a function of how I do my activities, I can’t just show up, I have to be fully engaged in what I am doing, which when you have multiple things it can be exhausting. I am not a skimmer, and I am rarely satisfied without deep knowledge. It’s why I always had either As or Cs in school, I couldn’t do just enough to get by, i can’t just show up, do the minimum and get by. I seek deep knowledge. 

Now this begs the question, is this just me and a function of my character, or is it a quality of the modern renaissance man. I think perhaps a bit of both, I think a renaissance man must be a consummate learner always looking for deeper knowledge. And while being a polymath is undoubtedly a quality of the renaissance man, it is more than skimming and being present. It is more than being a jack of all trades and master of none. 

The other side of the coin though of this tirade, is that if you don’t show up at all, then it’s even more impossible to accomplish anything, and sometimes starting with mere presence is better than not starting at all. You can’t create, art, social change, political action if you aren’t there. But there is a difference with this kind of showing up. It is showing up with purpose, with the desire to see and learn if there is something more and with a vision to starting something. Presence is an important part of achieving accomplishments, but it must be presence with purpose. 

So why is this important, other than to make me feel better for not concurrently working on four graduate degrees? It might just be one of the fundamental problems with our world where the people who are rising to the top are the skimmers, the ones with cursory knowledge but where is the deep knowledge that will help us solve the problems we are facing, where are the deep thinkers. We value people who show up for things and create lists of accomplishments. But being a renaissance man is about character not accomplishments, and while multiple interests are certainly an aspect of being a renaissance man it is ultimately about moral fortitude, and there is no degree in that no matter how many you take at the same time.