No one can be good at everything. More importantly, no one can be great at much.

The most basic reason is time limitations.

You can only invest your time in so many different places.

There are also energy limitations.

Then you have to consider your own natural gifts and weaknesses. No person is born particularly gifted in every direction.

(A great football player is unlikely to be a great jockey. That’s a physical example but there are intellectual examples that are less obvious.)

You can spend your time beating away at your weaknesses to try and make yourself as well rounded as possible but that process sucks. Really… try it for a while and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

You’ll spend the majority of your time doing things that you’re just not very good at. All that time is time that could have been spent taking your skills and turning them into something that you’re amazing at.

It’s better to focus your energy on your strengths and let those carry you (to some extent.)

When I say that, a lot of readers are going to start thinking this will hurt their grades but it usually doesn’t have to. It only makes a difference when you don’t properly account for it.

If you’re bad at writing good grammar for English class, a certain amount of understanding is good, but at a certain point, it’s probably worth just asking someone you trust to review your work before you hand it in.

When you accept you’re weak in that area, you can account for it.

If you’re bad at math then you can focus on checking your work extra thoroughly. Math is great for this. There are almost always multiple ways to solve or check the same problem.

Instead of focusing on making yourself good at these skills, you just need to try and tread more carefully.

Over time, this will even help you improve. You may never be a whiz in the subject but you don’t need to be. The extra time you have for your skills will make up for it in the long run.