Here’s the reason why...

Have you ever met, known, or heard of someone who has a wide range of interests and creative endeavours in life?

This person is called a multipotentialite. Multipotentiality is the state of possessing numerous extraordinary skills, any one or more of which might lead to a successful career. Specialists, on the other hand, have one “real calling,” whereas multipotentialites do not. Polymaths are people whose expertise covers a wide range of areas and are recognised for drawing on complicated bodies of information to tackle specific challenges.

Being a multipotentialite is our destiny. We have various pathways that we follow, either sequentially or concurrently (or both). Multipotentialites thrive on learning, discovering, and mastering new talents. We thrive on creatively combining diverse concepts. This makes us excellent problem solvers and inventors. Other labels for multipotentialites include “scanners,” “slashers,” “generalists,” “multipassionates,” “RP2s,” and “multipods.”

When it comes to new passions, our insatiable curiosity drives us to consume whatever we can get our hands on. As a result, we learn new abilities quickly and are a storehouse of knowledge.

Today, when a typical profession may demand someone to be a social media expert, public speaker, writer, and data analyst, the polymath triumphs, while the profound subject-matter expert is relegated to the back corner to be exploited as a resource for others. Jake Chapman once stated that he would choose a team of polymaths with a single subject matter expert as a resource as a fit for his team on investment.

People who have acquired talents in several professions (multipotentialities) are more likely to

? Quickly learn and develop skills (knowing how to learn).

? Create an idea synthesis

? Be able to adapt or adjust to new circumstances and modify for a new use or purpose.

? Alter thinking modes

? Create novel solutions

? Take into account the context

? Be animated.

? Have variety and uniqueness

? Be well-suited to positions of authority.

? Feel empathy for a broader range of people and cultures.

In a world of dogmatic experts, the generalist is ultimately in charge. Think about this: Does a CEO have a more proficient accounting skill than a CFO or CPA? Was Steve Jobs a stronger programmer than Apple’s top developers? No, but he possessed a diverse set of abilities and saw the invisible interconnectivity.?With the democratisation of knowledge, big-picture generalists will forecast, invent, and climb to power the fastest. There’s a reason military “generals” are referred to as such.

Despite the obvious advantages, there may be certain areas of caution and difficulty, such as the following:

? Giving up the benefits of specialisation and ultra-long-term commitment (you may not have both).

? Distraction and exhaustion, particularly when poorly administered

? Depending on the individual, mastery or competence may take longer to achieve:While the prevalence of this phenomenon is debated, it can be a significant problem for those who experience it, leading to over-scheduling, high stress levels, confusion, paralysis by analysis, and impulsive or conformist choices in gifted children, and feelings of social alienation, purposelessness, apathy, and depression in the brightest of adults.

? Boredom is also common in multipotentialites who have “mastered” or learnt everything they want to know about a specific topic before moving on.

? They will also face pushback from career advisers, parents, and friends who want them to pursue traditional, specialised careers.

In a society that overvalues specialisation, the phrase and its growing use (particularly within the blogging community) have helped to raise awareness of the value of generalists.

In today’s economy, diverse thinking and new solutions to contemporary challenges are associated with creativity and the growth of the creative class. They would profit from the advantages of multipotentialite since fresh ideas may be found at the junction of various areas.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher an animal, sail a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, programme a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight gallantly, and die gallantly. It’s insects that are specialised, not even all.

According to economists, the history of human labour is one of growing specialisation. In the days of the hunter-gatherer, every member of the group was required to be proficient in all tasks.

As humans proceeded along the economic continuum from hunter-gatherer to agricultural, industrial, and now post-industrial economies, the labour force became more fragmented, with employees acquiring increasingly specialised skill sets…. Historically, specialisation has been a route to financial success. Although specialisation has certain economic benefits, well-educated generalists will be the most useful in the age of technological convergence.

It is time for a renaissance…. Individual potential was recognised as the immense benefit of being well-rounded. Unfortunately, somewhere along the road, the concept of someone who dabbled in a variety of subjects lost cultural currency, and we began to admire people who sought deep subject matter knowledge.

We now live in a world where formerly different businesses are merging, and the real chances for development are found where those industries cross. To capitalise on these 21st-century prospects, people who are “jacks of all trades, all rounders, masters of none,” or, maybe more precisely, master polymaths, will be required. It is said that most humans never get to exercise or explore up to 20% of their potential. People have accepted and settled for this less than stellar performance.

Wikipedia, Education Week, Puttylike, Time Enough for Love, and Jake Chapman for References