Have you ever struggled to make up your mind about your career? Have you felt like there were too many options to choose from? Do you feel like you are indecisive or unable to commit to one specific career path? If you answered yes to all of these questions then you may be a multipotentialite.
As a multipotentialite we struggle to find our place in the world, and to define our careers. Over the past few years I noticed a lot of stress wells up inside of me when someone asks “What do you do for a living?”. My stomach twists in a knot and I find myself balking at the idea of giving a straightforward answer. It would be simple right? Just tell them I’m a teacher. That is what I do for a living. Why is that so hard? I realized the issue is less about the nature of my work, and largely an issue of identity.
Identity Crisis
We build our identity based on things such as our age, our nationality, our hometown, the sports teams we follow, the books we read, the type of music we listen to. There’s a quick and immediate need to categorize the people we meet. I think in college the question of choice was “What’s your major?” which I think now in our adult life translates to “What’s your job?” My resistance to give a straightforward answer stems from an identity crisis that I battled my whole life.
I have always struggled with choosing a career path. In high school I couldn’t decide on a major. In the end I felt forced to choose between two very different fields. Then I spent most of my college career tempted by other subjects, always second guessing my choice. I enjoyed politics, criminal psychology, creative writing, history, and foreign language – the latter one later becoming my second major. Although I felt forced to choose one thing when I started college, I never really committed to that choice. Leaving college I felt just as uncertain if not more uncertain of my future career.
I spent so much of my time full of self-doubt. Why is it that this choice seems to come so easily to others? Why is it so difficult to just know what it is I want to do? I constantly felt like there was something wrong with me or that I had problems with commitment. It wasn’t until a few years ago, when I stumbled upon Emilie Wapnick’s Ted talk that I realized there was nothing wrong with me. In fact, there’s a word for people like me – multipotentialite (also known as a scanner, generalist, polymath, or renaissance person).
What is a Multipotentialite?
A multipotentialite is essentially a person who has many different interests and creative pursuits in life. As the name that Emilie gives us so cleverly demonstrates, we are people with multiple potentials. By contrast, those who are not multipotentialites, are specialists. A specialist primarily focuses on a specific subject or activity, and consequently tends to have more highly specialized skills.
Redefining Myself
It wasn’t until I came across this definition of multipotentialite that I began to make sense of my own experiences and struggles in my career. There’s a constant and palpable pressure to choose one job, one specific career path. I lived my life under this pressure trying desperately to find my “one true calling”. Struggling to make up my mind, afraid to give up all of the things that I love, I constantly felt like a failure and lost confidence in myself. Emilie explains that multipotentialites tend to prefer doing many things, either simultaneously or in succession. Coming across her Ted Talk was honestly both enlightening and liberating. I felt like I could finally escape the pressures to choose, to give up so many things I love, and I could finally embrace everything.
The problem is that we still live in a society that expects us to choose one specialized career path. The world isn’t designed for multipotentialites. Many of us struggle under this pressure to choose before we realize that we are just wired differently. Even now, I continue to struggle with the pressure society puts on us to choose. This is no more apparent than when asked what I do for a living. I realized the reason I struggle so much with this question is that I just don’t want to answer. I don’t want to define myself by one specific career, one specific thing. To say “I am a teacher.” feels like I am committing to being a teacher, and only a teacher, for the rest of my life. That to me feels incomplete and inaccurate.
Multipotentialites are Misunderstood
Yes I make my current living as a teacher, but I also do so much more than that. As a multipotentialite I want to be more than just a teacher. People cannot seem to wrap their minds around that. I mentioned to a friend once that I want to be a translator. Then several months later she asked how much work I was getting as a translator. I told her that I wasn’t doing anything with translation because I was currently focusing on language and design. She seemed quite confused – a response I’ve grown familiar with. She couldn’t understand how one month I wanted to be a translator and another a designer. When you focus on multiple different things, people tend to view your current focus as your forever career. When they see you shift focus they begin to think you are indecisive, flaky, or unable to commit.
As a multipotentialite it is inevitable that people are going to view me with confusion and lack understanding. However, people seem quite impressed by multipotentialites once they are able to showcase their multifaceted successes. That guy who went to medical school but then became a dad and now does YouTube with his family while selling a cook book etc. These kind of stories people enjoy hearing. People are pretty open and accepting of someone who has succeeded at so many things. Once you have something to show for your multipotentialism people are more likely to show acceptance and support. But, if you are like me – still toiling away at your different pursuits, very much at the start of your multifaceted career – then you will likely to spend a lot of your time feeling misunderstood.
Finding Acceptance
At times it can be frustrating to feel so misunderstood. I have to constantly explain my career ambitions to my friends and family, and accept that many of them won’t understand. After sharing what it means – many of my friends have realized that they are probably multipotentialites as well. I can only be responsible for myself, my career and my own happiness. I try to stay positive and remember that as long as I know who I am, and I am true to myself, that is all that matters.
That pesky question about what it is you do will always rear its ugly head. However, as Emilie Wapnick explains – rather than throwing out a title, explain all of the different things that you do. So what do I do? I study foreign languages and linguistics, teach English, create content for my blog and YouTube, design planners and worksheets, and if I have time, I translate too. .
Want to learn more? Check out Emilie Wapnick’s blog Puttylike (This is in no way sponsored I just highly recommend her site.)
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