Are you a Multipotenialite?

Recently I stumbled across a TED talk by Emilie Wapnick with the title "Why some of us don't have one true calling". This caught my eye immediately. I was curious. This felt like something I needed to watch.

Within a few seconds of listening to this talk I thought "this is me!" I could relate to each word, each point, each idea she was talking about. I was that person who had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I spent hours talking to career councilors in school, doing career matching tests, personality tests, aptitude tests you name it to try to decide what on earth I was going to do when I left school. My choice of courses spanned from graphic design to teaching to music to film production. In the end I chose a course based on two factors: it sounded the least like school in terms of the subject matter and it was in a University I felt I would like to go to for the student life - and funnily enough the course I chose to do - Multimedia - couldn't decide what it wanted to be either. Over the 4 years I was in University the course kept changing, so much so that it turned into something I had no interest in ultimately and the best thing that came out of it was a brilliant internship in London being a junior graphic designer and the fantastic bunch of friends I made.

If I was to write a CV and add every job I have done in my life I would never get a job. Hiring managers would take one look at it and think, this person has no idea who she is or what she wants to do. I know because I am guilty of doing it myself when hiring others. I have been a sports camp leader, a clothes sales assistant, a waitress, a graphic designer, an animation production coordinator, a TV development manager, a freelancer, an events coordinator, a radio ad sales person and creator, a localisation project manager, a business owner, a massage therapist, a full time Mum, a clerical officer, a scrum master and a people development lead. I am an artist, cook, musician, singer, photographer, health enthusiast, writer to name a few, but none I can do to any level that would be classed as expert. I dabble and enjoy them at a very high level for a short period, becoming obsessed with any one at a time and then dropping it altogether for years at a time.

Like Emilie, I was very aware of this pattern early on in life and I used to panic about it regularly. I would have long hard talks with myself to say "catch yourself on and focus or you will get nowhere". I felt there had to be something wrong with me. I would start a job, be pretty good at it, give it my all and then I would get bored. Once I hit the point of boredom that would start to tear me apart, on one hand wanting to move on but fighting with myself to persist if for no other reason than - what will people think if you quit and move onto something else again. I felt embarrassed to mention to people what I was thinking of doing next, predicting the eye rolling and sighs and "here she goes again". I knew I was the butt of a few jokes for people, flaky and unfocused and a little eccentric.

I often joke with my husband about the 8 month rule, that it would take roughly 8 months for me to give something my all and then realise I was bored by it. If something passed the 8 month mark I was much more likely to stick at it. This could be in relation to anything - personal projects, work, friendships and relationships. Luckily my husband managed to pass this 8 month rule and has survived the last 12 years with me not getting bored (and he hasn't gotten bored or driven mad by me yet either) 😂

I found as time went on, the pattern remained but I started to see it differently. I noticed how learning and experience from previous roles was influencing my performance in new ones, it was allowing me to see things others might not, to understand things from different perspectives, giving me an ability to question things and open up new view points for others to consider. I could spot patterns myself, in behaviour of others or in processes. Where things may not be going so well I could recognise points of failure or on the flip side I could see what key factors drove success. I am not perfect at this by any means but it is a skill I notice and hone every day. I am also extremely adaptable to change, this is not a scary thing for me, it is something I welcome as it opens up new challenges and opportunities for learning and growth. And my insatiable hunger for learning new things stands to me daily.

Variety is most definitely the spice of life for me.

After watching this TED talk naturally I dove right into finding out everything I could about the author which led me to her website Puttylike. I took her quiz to test out if I was a Multipotentialite, not doubting for one second what the outcome of my test would be...

All I could do was laugh at this, it was like I had finally found the definition for me and how I was wired. And it no longer felt like a flaw but a superpower. Emilie listed out the specific superpowers she attributes to us as multipotentialites:

• Idea synthesis - at the intersection of innovation

• Rapid Learning - always a beginner learning new skills

• Adaptability - riding easily with the tide of change

I thought, what amazing talents to be able to hold up and say these are me. And I can truly say that these are traits I bring to my life every day.

I have come to the point in life where I can embrace this side of my personality. I can control it and guide it. I have always referred to myself as being a Chameleon, able to change myself to suit different people, surroundings, work, and circumstances. Passionate about new things regularly, and each new thing adding to my repertoire of skills and perspective.

Reflecting on the past, I always felt this was a major flaw, where I had no opinions or thoughts that were my own, relying on others to form opinions and then deciding if their opinion was one I wanted to adopt or not. This links back into the topic I spoke about in my post "A passion for people", where my obsession with the new and shiny led to friendship breakdowns, unable to align myself fully with anyone, constantly reinventing myself to suit the new people I was meeting. And being torn by the experience as on one hand I absolutely adored changing to suit, like taking on a new character but on the other hand it felt like a strange thing not really knowing who I was. I always empathised with the Julia Robert's character Maggie Carpenter in The Runaway Bride where she kept changing what her favourite eggs were for breakfast depending on what her newest fiancee liked best. 😋

I hope this article will have resonated with others and if you, like me, feel this is also you, definitely check out Emilie's TED talk and her website to read all about being a Multipod. And get in touch with me on LinkedIn, I would love to chat and hear all about your adventures as a Multipotentialite. :)