There are three ways to live your life.

The first is to follow your interests, becoming a jack of all trades but master of none.

If you walk this path, your bookshelf may look like a public library. You’ll find almost any conversation interesting, especially one in which you’re taught something new. You may consider yourself an amateur photographer, and chess player, and writer pencil, and chef, and weightlifter, and... you get the idea. It’s not that you don’t have a specialty, you just love learning about all the world has to offer.

The second way is to focus, diving deep into a single interest, becoming an expert in your field.

If you subscribe to this life, photography and chess and writing and cooking and weightlifting are all a waste of time distracting you from your main interest (unless, of course, your interest is one of those topics). Sure, you enjoy discovering new things, but you’re single-mindedly focused on your vocation.

Neither path is wrong (or right). In fact, the world needs both types—those who learn a bit about everything and those who learn a lot about one thing.

Those who learn a bit about everything find novel connections between disparate ideas.

Those who learn a lot about one thing find novel ways of pushing the limits in their field.

What the world doesn’t need is someone who lives the third way—the “me too” way—the person that copies and mimics and tries to get ahead by following the leaders.

Those who work the “me too” angle only learn what they need to make a buck. They find neither novel connections between disparate ideas, nor do they push the limits in their field. They just add to the noise.

Don’t live the “me too” way. Instead, find that one thing that lights your fire or let your interests guide you. Discover, stand out, and embrace what makes you different. Find your purpose and bring it to the forefront of all that you do.

Which way are you living?