I think the problem is one of breadth v depth. If you specialize too much, then its probable that you will fail to reuse knowledge from different fields. If you

I think the problem is one of breadth v depth. If you specialize too much, then its probable that you will fail to reuse knowledge from different fields. If you focus on breadth too much, then you will not have enough deep knowledge to build something of high quality. I would characterize people who are described by your quote as people who prefer breadth of knowledge over depth. This is a good quality to have in order to avoid tunnel vision. The downside (as you mentioned) is that it takes more willpower to maintain prolonged focus on an objective. I believe that I tend to fall in this category of people and its annoying when society demands to see immediate, obvious results. Small, incremental progress is less risky but it seems(to me) that the rewards are also minimized. Its difficult to judge whether the 'dreaming' one is doing will realize as concrete, positive changes.