You finished your PhD? Is it common for people to go through 6 years of the most specific schooling in the hardest subject and still not be sure that it is the right field for them? I'm not being facetious, but I'm genuinely curious.

From what I've learned in this thread, we can all contribute our own small part. I'm going to continue dipping my... finger into all the pies I see, and hopefully build a unique set of skills that sets me apart. I think maybe you should do the same?

My dad is a great example of this: He's one of the highest ranking army engineers, been on 8 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, speaks 5 languages, best selling author... but has also been on the board of almost every energy and mining company you can imagine. He's not an engineering theorist somewhere in a bunker, or building novel and innovative mining hardware, but his skillset is so unique and so few people have any one of his skills at that level, let alone multiple ones. He still gets invitations by various presidents in south america, regularly meets with middle eastern royalty... that kind of thing. All of this has culminated in a family wealth that means that none of us have to work menial jobs and can focus on things like physics, maths, arts, etc...

Do I think he's a genius? Probably, he set the record for the fastest PhD at an Ivy League school and was a professor by the time he was 28 (not saying this makes him a genius, just that he's up there). Is he on the same level as Tao? Probably not, but he decided to take a more generalised approach, and while he's not a Tao in any one of his skills, he's been incredibly fulfilled. In addition to all of that, he was a great father and my parents are still madly in love.

I think along with all the responses in this thread and the example my dad set, I'm going to worry more about doing what I love and being happy. If I can't penetrate a single facet of a field deep enough, I'll use what smarts I do have to acquire as many skills as possible and focus on being a better person.