Am I a generalist, or a person who doesn't know what they want?

Is there a difference between doing everything without knowing what you want, and doing everything while knowing what you want? Is it possible to embrace being a generalist? What distinction can be made between a generalist and a person who is lost in choices, doing anything and having no purpose?

These were the questions that suddenly came to my mind while commuting to what I would describe as my dream company operating in my dream industry. Maybe the contradiction here is that, I was working at my dream job, but I realized that I equally enjoyed my previous job in an industry that I did not actively look for. This led me to believe that I could find joy in most of the things I do, and me being a quick learner helps me change between specializations, learn, and apply what I learned. 

One of the people I met at an event said that they had a friend, who did their Master's in a country different than their home country, could not find a job afterwards and returned home. And the exact words they described their friend was: "He tried to do everything, and in the end he ended up doing nothing." This conversation was in the context of knowing what you want, and deciding exactly what direction you should go. This anecdote came after I told them during my studies, I first started with wind energy specialization, then I wanted to explore energy storage systems but then decided to go back to my initial motivator, which was wind energy. Therefore, this statement was scary for me and got me thinking: "What if I am a person who does not know what they want?"

I believe that each situation should be evaluated independently in this case. While taking wind energy classes, I knew that I wanted to learn more about it, since this was the reason why I chose this specific program at this specific university, and the classes were extremely captivating for me. While taking theoretical and practical classes on electrical storage systems, I knew that I wanted to be informed in this subject, and university is the best place there could be to explore different topics. While going back to wind energy, I knew that I now have the necessary foundation in energy storage, I could go back to this any time I want, should this info is needed in my future career or becomes a hot topic in the future which could create unexpected employment opportunities. Plus, I knew that the current state of the energy storage industry is not attractive for me, and would rather go back to wind energy, which always excited me. The collection of these "I knew" statements in my opinion depict the overall picture really well, that I always knew my motivators, and understood the consequences if I want to pursue a different topic. This is the core idea, the distinction between a generalist and a person who is lost in choices. Knowing this gives power to me to embrace my generalist identity, and turn it to my advantage.

I think millions of generalist people like me exist out here. I might have got to know a couple of them, and I want to believe that they are doing fine. And I wish all the people who are lost, that they could find their niche, what they want at that time, and go for it.