And you, what do you do for a living?
I don't know about you, but for me, this question has often triggered a storm of anxiety within me. In fact, when I was little and someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I kept changing my mind. I didn't understand why I had to choose ONE answer. Only one answer. I wanted to be an architect AND a circus performer. I wanted to redecorate children's nurseries and work as a childminder. I wanted to be a pole dancer (well, I was fascinated by the sensuality of this dance :)) and a designer...
When I started travelling 5 years ago, people I met kept asking me that question. I used to answer "for now, I travel full time, I live experiences, I live my life, and sometimes I work too."
Every time I have to redo my CV it's a panic. "One page is better otherwise it gives a bad image of your profile. You can't be 30 years old and already have a two-page CV... And forget about all the odd jobs, there's no point. I've already done three different diplomas up to the master. Then I worked in the event industry. Then I went on a trip and I worked as a waitress in a café, as a manager of a food truck, as a coordinator of sports activities, I got my yoga teacher diploma, I went to ¨Patagonia to be a climbing and hiking instructor, I worked in a ski resort and recently I am a craftsman in a workshop making leather goods...
"It would be nice if you could make up your mind once and for all." "You always start a thousand projects but you never finish them". "It's a shame you didn't continue, you were so good at it " "You never go through with things " "No, but after your travels you'll go back to a real job, like the one you had when you left school"!
I must confess that I have come to believe these kinds of statements. Years that I think I'm a failure because I take on projects that I'm unable to continue in the long term. Years of being frustrated because I have 100 passions and, compared to most of my friends, I can't make a living from them. For years I've been thinking "What the hell is wrong with me?
And then one day I came across the TED Talk de Emilie Wapnick - Why some of us don't have a true calling. And then, it's a revelation.
She introduces the concept of "multi-potentialite", which I will sometimes simplify as "multi-potential people". Just because it is shorter (and I find the long version a little snobbish but that's only my point of view)
SO, WHAT IS A MULTIPOTENTIALITE ?
Multipotentiality is a term that was first used in 1972 by R.H Frederickson. It refers to two types of profiles: either a person whose ability and preference allow him or her to excel in two or more different fields OR a person whose interests are in several fields, rather than being very good in one.
In contrast, a person whose interests are broadly in one field will be called a "specialist". The "specialist" is one who has found his or her vocation. He studies, trains and develops his skills to become an expert, if he wishes, in a specific field.
The "multipotential" struggles to find his voice. It is not for lack of interest but for interest in too many things. The choice is difficult, seems impossible and is painful. He wants everything, and everything at the same time.
From a neurological point of view, the brain of a multi-potential would be "wired" differently. Much more than a matter of the number of neurons, it would seem that multi-potentialists have a greater connectivity of neurons and that their wiring is done in a tree structure, unlike the sequential or more "linear" wiring of a "specialist" brain. It is this arborescence that explains the jumble of ideas often evoked by multi-potentialists. (and this justifies the trees of thoughts I constantly draw for those who know me!)
Be careful, however, there is no abnormality or mental disorder whatsoever in the fact of being multi-potential or specialist. They are simply different character traits and neural circuits. Just as I explained for the character trait of a highly sensitive person (HSP).
SO, HOW TO KNOW IF WE ARE MULTI-POTENTIAL ?
In the same way as I wrote in my article on hypersensitivity and HSP, if you are multi-potential, you will recognize yourself.
Professionally :
Are you considered a slasher, a switcher or a multi-task profile?
Do you have a multifaceted job?
Do you have several activities simultaneously?
Do you have a food job so that you can freely pursue your passions?
Are you the king/queen of reconversion? Do you constantly change jobs?
In your daily life :
you need to explore, need novelty and change
you need meaning, purpose and understanding in your projects
you need to evolve, to learn
You need to create and you innovate easily
You have a natural curiosity
You learn very quickly
You adapt easily to different situations, you are at ease in different environments
You think you don't fit into any box
You get bored quickly and you hate boredom
You always have several projects in progress, open tabs, unfinished books, and files of subjects to explore for "later"?
Do your tastes and passions go all over the place?
Every time you find a new passion, you throw yourself into it, thinking "that's it, I've found my calling!" until you lose interest and give up on the idea again?
Do you sometimes (often?) feel like an amateur, passionate about everything but a specialist in nothing?
If you recognized yourself through some or most of this, then Welcome to the club ! :)
WHAT TO DO IF YOU RECOGNISE YOURSELF AS MULTI-POTENTIAL?
Well first of all, go and celebrate! In a world and cultures where hypersensitivity and multipotentiality are not always welcome it is time to reconcile with yourself.
I'm really not a big fan of the labels and diagnoses that are placed on our foreheads, under the guise of being different. It has always scared me, as if I was going to be locked in a box and not be able to get out, or even worse, like if I was going to be officially singled out. But I must admit that since I put a name to my hypersensitivity and discovered that I am multi-potential, I have finally been able to free myself from this feeling of being "out of touch" or misunderstood, and I have understood that I was not alone... And that, I assure you, is a great help and worth the effort. And then, we have the right to identify with what we want if it has a positive impact on our lives! As long as we keep in mind that these labels are only a small part of our identity and that it takes more to define who we are (and as long as we use these labels as tools and superpowers)
Then go out and discover! Explore! Yes, you have the right to live your multiple passions, yes you can do 20 different jobs (or 10 or 300), yes you have the right to start dozens of projects without ever finishing them (and that's okay!!) and yes you have the right to learn whatever you are passionate about until you are not passionate about it anymore (even if it seems illogical to others who think you are leaving exactly when you become very good at it).
Get to know yourself, your strengths, your weaknesses, your beliefs, your patterns. Meet yourself because that is what will help you to re-structure your daily life. It's time for us multi-potential people to transform what we thought was the worst flaw into one of our best quality =)
Let's talk more about this in some future articles !
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