Curious about Variety: How Important Is It for You and Your Life?

Definition of Variety: The quality or state of being various; intermixture or succession of different things; diversity; multifariousness. Something varying or differing from others of the same general kind; one of a number of things that are akin; a sort; as, varieties of wood, land, rocks, etc.

“Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.” - William Cowper, English poet

“The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.” - W. Somerset Maugham, British playwright

Last night, I had a long ride home from a thought provoking Storytelling Conference. Between the creative ideas offered over the weekend and the alone time while depending upon “Cruise Control,” I had the time and space to clarify and re-evaluate my direction(s).

I realized that with my newest, network marketing venture, I was letting myself be swept along into over concentrating on one of the many businesses in my “Portfolio Career.” My excitement and passion for my careers results from experiencing my daily, weekly and monthly variety. Yes, I know that there are times when I must focus on one area completely. And yet, this must never result in the detriment to other parts of my career.

To remind myself of my overwhelming need for variety, I chose today’s blog theme. And, I also found some great quotations from the experts:

• “Variety of mere nothings gives more pleasure than uniformity of something.” - Jean Paul, German author
• “Variety is more than a means of avoiding boredom, since art is more than an entertainment of the senses.” - Rudolf Arnheim, German artist
• “Variety is the soul of pleasure.” - Aphra Behn, English dramatist
• “Our minds are like our stomachs; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetite.” - Marcus Fabius Quintilian, Roman philosopher
• “The constant variety is the most interesting part of my job.” - Tabitha Soren, American celebrity
• “Sameness is the mother of disgust, variety the cure.” – Petrarch, Italian poet

Some with a bit of a different twist:

• “Individuals, too, who cultivate a variety of skills seem brighter, more energetic and more adaptable than those who know how to do one thing only.” - Robert Shea, American author
• “Look at growth, look at how much time people spend on the Net and look at the variety of things that they are doing. It's all really good, so I am actually encouraged by the fundamentals that underlie usage growth on the Net.” - Meg Whitman, American business woman
• “The difference between mad people and sane people... is that sane people have variety when they talk-story. Mad people have only one story that they talk over and over.” - Maxine Hong Kingston, American writer
• “We used to lift weights a couple of times a week, we did a lot of running. I enjoyed the variety.” - Eric Heiden, American athlete
• “In things to be seen at once, much variety makes confusion, another vice of beauty. In things that are not seen at once, and have no respect one to another, great variety is commendable, provided this variety transgress not the rules of optics and geometry.” - Christopher Wren, English architect
• “But while doing that I'd been following a variety of fields in science and technology, including the work in molecular biology, genetic engineering, and so forth.” - K. Eric Drexler, American scientist

I also love Brekin Meyer’s quotation, “I think reading is important for a variety of things. I mean, first of all, it's a way to get information and find out what's going on in the world. But also, it helps your imagination.”

How do you feel about variety? Do you make sure that there is enough for adding spice to your career and life?