In 2021, I opted not to make New Year resolutions that never last for long. Instead I set up a year of health experiment to allow me to focus on different health topics throughout the year.
Each month I focus on a different area of health like cutting out sugar, better nutrition, stress management, or sleep. I pick a nonfiction book about that topic to read in the first half of the month. Then I attempt to implement what I’ve learned in the second half.
May Topic: Multipotentialites
I have a large variety of interests and hobbies. It’s always been impossible for me to pick one thing to throw all my energy into. In college, I changed my major at least 4 times and acquired multiple associate’s degrees before getting my bachelor’s.
I often feel scattered in too many directions with pressure to narrow my passions down into one neat package. There are always new areas to learn about and several skills I would like to develop across multiple disciplines. Now I know there’s a term for this: multipotentialite!
Multipotentialites are people with many interests, hobbies, and projects. Recently the term has been made popular by Emilie Wapnick in her inspiring Ted Talk, Why some of us don’t have one true calling.
The word is derived from multipotentiality, a term for people who have knowledge and skills across multiple disciplines. While multipotentialite is a modern expression, there is a long history of people who have many passions and multiple careers. Historical figures like Aristotle, Issac Newton, and Benjamin Franklin were all multipotentialites.
Modern society values specialists. Everyone is encouraged to pursue one true calling for a career. Multipotentialites can feel isolated or like a failure. As though they’re always one step behind or a flake for changing courses again.
Years ago, when I first watched Emilie Wapnick’s Ted Talk it was a relief to realize I wasn’t alone. Other people felt pulled in different directions, unable to settle on one course of study or career for the rest of their lives.
Wapnick advocates that it’s ok to not to have one career path. It can even make you more valuable as an employee or an entrepreneur. Being a multipotentialite means you think outside the box, are adaptable, and a quick learner.
Review: How to Be Everything by Emilie Wapnick
For May, I selected Emilie Wapnick’s book, How to Be Everything: A Guide for Those Who (Still) Don’t Know What They Want to Be When They Grow Up. The book was every bit as inspiring and encouraging as her Ted Talk. She helps the reader take their many passions and skills and make them work to their advantage. It’s possible to create a sustainable life that includes all your interests.
In the first section, she is quick to reassure the reader that there’s nothing wrong with them and shares her own story dealing with insecurity and people’s reactions to her multiple creative pursuits. She covers the many benefits that come from being a multipotentialite.
Wapnick also shares three components that affect all multipotentialites: money, meaning, and variety. Designing a happy life means balancing these three elements on the amounts that are right for you. There are practical exercises in this chapter to help you come up your right amount.
The second part of the book explores four work models for multipotentialites. These are the group hug approach, the slasher model, the Einstein approach, and the phoenix model. She addresses how to narrow down the right model for you or that it’s ok to switch between the models throughout your life and career. Each chapter digs deeper into a specific work model and offers exercises for trying it out.
The last section of How to Be Everything shares common issues multipotentialites face. Wapnick offers ideas for creating a personal productivity system. She also covers strategies for dealing with fear, lack of confidence, and people in your life who may not understand your multipotentiality.
The Most Interesting Takeaways:
- “This book is for the people who don’t want to pick a single focus and abandon all their other interests. It’s for the curious, for those who find delight in learning new things, creating and morphing between identities.”
- Having one true calling is a myth. It’s a highly romanticized path to success that is spread through social conditioning and cultural cues.
- Multipotentialites thrive in the intersections of disciplines. They blend subjects and ideas together often in innovative ways. They develop an expertise in interdisciplinary relationships.
- The term scanner describes someone with an intense curiosity about multiple unconnected subjects. It comes from Barbara Sher, author of Refuse to Choose!, whose work is referenced often.
- Designing a happy life requires identifying the right amount of money, meaning, and variety for you. You can then use the 4 work models to find the right career approach for your preferences and values.
- Adaptability makes a multipotentialite more resilient in the current economy. The slasher approach in particular allows multiple revenue streams for versatile financial security.
- “Multipotentialites tend to struggle with three main areas: work, productivity, and self-esteem.”
- Knowing when to quit doesn’t make you a flake or a quitter. Multipotentialites are finished with an interest, job, or project when they got what they came for, often when they are no longer challenged. There is a difference between resistance and a personal end point. It’s helpful to know how to recognize each.
- Making time for tinkering with new interests or developing new projects is important and valuable.
- Tracking small wins in a little journal to make sure you’re noticing the positive. It also helps you stay motivated in the early stages of a new project and maintain momentum.
- Wapnick created an online community at Puttylike.com for multipotentialites to connect and find resources.
Quotes from How to Be Everything:
Final Verdict:
I loved this book! It was a quick fun read. I had to limit myself to only one chapter a day, the opposite issue of some of my other year of health book picks. I wanted to let the information from each chapter soak in.
The first part of the book was inspiring and encouraging to know that mulipotentialites are a significant part of the population. While on the outside of how modern society is set up, they’ve played a big role in discoveries and advancements throughout history. We’re not alone and are very capable of success.
After I finished the book, I went back and worked through the various exercises Wapnick laid out. I found these to be very helpful. Although I didn’t have a term for it, I’ve been wanting to take a slasher approach to our career approaches.
My husband is very similar to me with a variety of interests. He enjoys doing multiple different things for work and he has many more applicable skills. The idea to diversify our income streams has been in the works for awhile and these exercises helped me realize the possibilities with a logical path to making it happen.
Even if that isn’t the route you’d like to go, there are three other work model approaches. Just considering the possibilities allows you to be open to opportunities, brainstorm different skill pairings, and consider new projects. You never know what new path you could come up with or what chance might present itself.
Book Pick for June
In June, I’m really looking forward to reading The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams. Time in nature is something our modern lives are lacking more and more.
In The Nature Fix, Williams shares scientific findings into the positive effects nature has on our brains. Through current research, she explores the power that nature may have to improve health, promote creativity, and boost relationships.
I’m a huge nature lover and often find my spiritual connection when out in it. We live in a very rural area and are working to develop 10 acres of raw land so nature isn’t something that is lacking in our lives. Still I’m excited to learn about the science connecting nature to good health. Perhaps there will be more tips and strategies for incorporating nature into modern life.
Are you a multipotentialite? How do you meet your career needs while making room to explore all your interests?
