Multipotentialite Magic - Be A Jill Of All Trades

Do you remember the time when you were asked what you want to be when you grow up?

I was barely 6 years old.

My answer was that I wanted to be a dancer and a nurse. I was told that was impossible. I could not be a dancer and a nurse. I was told to pick one or the other.

As I got older the dilemma worsened. I had decided not to be a nurse, but now, as well as a dancer I also wanted to be a lawyer, a journalist and an actress.

Obviously, I was a hopeless case in the area of choosing my vocation, and everyone told me so.

I kept hearing that I had to choose one speciality, in order to be successful. I had to be committed. I had to focus.

As if we could only have one passion and one talent!

Adding to the confusion, “follow my passion” was a popular piece of advice, since apparently, that was the path to succeeding and discovering my special talent.

In my naïveté I had many, many passions.

Friends and teachers encouraged me to decide what I was going to do when I grew up. They were adamant that following my passion would show me my special talent which would be the precursor of success in anything I would do.

And, like so many people, I tried to narrow down my passions, but it was impossible.

Trying to follow this advice made me anxious - like I was failing at something.

So I chose my own destiny.

I have been called a ‘dilettante’ many times in the most derogatory terms. I looked that word up in the dictionary one day, and found I was “a person having a superficial interest in an art or a branch of knowledge”. In lay terms that meant I was interested in more than just one thing.

Heaven forbid.

Now, I’m glad I didn’t listen to my elders on this vital topic.

Being a ‘generalist’ rather than a ‘specialist’ suits me. It’s who I am. I feel sorry for the children that are told that and who believe that. I think it takes away a bit of their genius.

When I go to a restaurant I don’t want to be told I can only have one thing to eat. I want many choices. I have a huge appetite, and having one thing would not satisfy me.

When I take a hike, I don’t want one straight line. I want to have many paths to choose from, and to enjoy many views and adventures.

That’s just who I am. And life is a buffet for us to pick and choose, or have it all!

As my story has unfolded magically and miraculously, I am happy to say that it has included MANY “superficial interests”.

They include:

• Entrepreneurship - building several successful million-dollar businesses;

• Event Promoter, filling dozens of major Convention Centers throughout the globe;

• Creative Director - establishing a large Creative Department filled with artists, designers and copywriters;

• Corporate Executive - managing hundreds of people to deliver a product with service excellence;

• Hotel General Manager running a 100-room hotel with a 4-star restaurant;

• Seminar & Workshop Trainer having trained over 300,000 people worldwide in communication and relationship skills;

• Multi-award-winning Sales Manager;

• I have been asked to perform in several TV shows and Films, and I have hosted numerous Radio shows;

• Contributing Editor and Columnist for several magazines;

• Jewelry Designer - selling my jewelry to over 3,500 boutiques and museums in the US and Europe;

• Environmental Activist inspiring thousands of people to save the many Rain Forests that still thrive in our world;

• Event Producer handling the many details of designing the event, creating the event sets, managing the lighting, sound, media and logistics;

• Systems Analyst, creating various systems used to monitor thousands of registrations for sign-up Programs.

Imagine if I’d followed that single-lane, specialist idea!

Thankfully, one of the most influential pieces of wisdom that came to me in my late 20s was that I can be anything I choose.

Once I understood I could be anything, and that it was OK to be good at many things, I felt the freedom to express myself authentically and with true heart. As part of discovering my personal power, I realized it wasn’t ‘wrong’ to have more than one talent.

I started wearing the label of ‘dilettante’ with pride. That is one of the key reasons for my co-pioneering the beginning of the Human Potential Movement.

Multi-level talents and skills have been essential to the gorgeous career and lifestyle that I created.

The specialists in the world aren’t wrong either. We need both kinds of people to have this world work.

Not only have I come to peace with being interested in many things, I have also discovered being a generalist is not an affliction, but rather a source of tremendous strength for me.

Others find that strength in specializing, but the nature of man is to be wired for many things and for many thoughts.

I believe that people are by nature polymaths - multipotentialites. I salute the specialist, but I don’t think that diminishes the value of also excelling at being a generalist.

Only recently in history did it become the practice to narrow our knowledge rather than broaden our knowledge. It was the price we had to pay for progress.

But to handle the great issues of the day like climate change, political divisions, scientific and technological innovations, hunger, war, poverty, and social justice, we must have greater ambition, be magnets for collaboration, speak different languages, see the wholes instead of only the pieces, and learn to cross-fertilize. The printing press was created from understanding the wine press.

The ‘generalists’ – the polymaths – like myself, are the New Renaissance people. They are the ‘connectors’ and they bring ideas together into synthesis.

‘Polymath’ is a lot better than ‘Dilettante!’.

Rather than being seen as one with superficial interests, I can now see myself as a person “of wide-ranging interests and learning”. That changes everything.

From that point of view, as a Multipotentialite and Polymath, this gives us Superpowers!

Mine are:

• Idea synthesis: I bring the ideas together at the intersections of thought and people;

• Rapid learning: I’m always learning new things and new skills - I am constantly being a beginner at new things;

• Adaptability: I can morph into anything I need to do or I need to be - I can take on various roles.

When we believe that we have to choose ONE thing to be or do in life, we often end up miserable in our jobs. It’s great to specialize as long as what we specialize in is something we enjoy and desire.

And indeed, let’s encourage our children to know that it is NOT WRONG if they can’t choose just ONE thing to be when they grow up.

Can you relate? Maybe, you’re one of those people who has stayed on a single path and feels unfulfilled in their career. Or perhaps, like our Preeminent Posse, you’re exploring all of your potential as an entrepreneur.

It helps to ‘see like a goat’ - a goat has peripheral vision - with a range of 360 degrees around it. It helps them stop being eaten. For you, it can catapult your world to infinite possibility.

Get addicted to learning, and keep developing new skills, new things to do, new things to be.

Don’t get stuck in the adage of ‘following your passion’. Let your passion follow you.

The world needs you - in all your multi-faceted glory.

Power comes from being yourself - ALL of your selves!

That is the magic of being a Multipotentialite! And our time is Now!