On having your thing

Van Neistat says that if you don't know what is your thing, your main job in life is to figure out what is your thing - he calls the thing purpose, but I think it's the same - and if by a certain age you don't know what is your thing, you should do whatever you're good at that also makes you money.

I've always struggled to know what is my thing, mostly because I have too many things - which is another way to say that I don't have a thing.

I am not sure about this, but I have the feeling that many artist and creative types that I've encountered in my life, when they struggle, it's mostly because of the pursuit of that thing. They have the talent, the passion, and skill, but finding the thing to channel all that energy is not the final struck, but it's figuring out where to go next.

The thing is sometimes one thing, and sometimes is the accumulation of many small things, that in aggregate are your thing. But they all, these small things, should be of the same kind to qualify as your thing.

The only way to figure out what is your thing, is by doing many things. You need to do them with some level of thoroughness, though. One pottery class, one piano class, and so on, don't count as doing the thing.