What it means to be a polymath

A jack of all trades and a master of some

Recently, I watched Emilie Wapnick’s TEDx talk on ‘multipotentialites’, or in other words, polymaths. It struck a chord in me, because it made me come to the realisation that it was something I hugely resonated with, and importantly, explained a lot of my behaviours and patterns in the past.

According to her, ‘a multipotentialite is someone with many interests and creative pursuits.’ She goes on to draw on the Renaissance period and how it was considered ideal to be skilled in multiple disciplines. The classic example being Leonardo da Vinci, who was a painter, sculptor, architect, and inventor.

So how do polymaths fit into today’s society?

Not with ease.

According to Elle Luna in her article turned book “The Crossroads of Should and Must”, ‘Should is how others want us to show up in the world — how we’re supposed to think, what we ought to say, what we should or shouldn’t do. It’s the vast array of expectations that others layer upon us.’

Thus being a polymath, or a multipotentialite, is the exact opposite of what society thinks we should be doing. What society says is right and proper is that we find a specialty, become an expert in one field, and follow one career path to reach this goal. This is an expectation that has indeed been layered upon us since a young age. In what history have we ever been asked ‘what are the things you want to become when you’re older?’ over ‘what do you want to be when you’re older?’, insinutating that we can only ‘be’ one thing. Many people still face stigma over choosing pursuits that have nothing to do with their undergraduate programs, to give an example.

How did we become a society that thought it okay to prescribe ‘shoulds’ to individuals?

One of the biggest misconceptions however, is that if you aren’t a master of something, you are automatically unsuccessful. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Many entrepreneurs are generalists and this is precisely what makes them successful (according to society’s standards). Let’s look at Emilie Wapnick’s list of ‘multipotentialite superpowers‘:

• Idea synthesis: combining two or more fields and creating something new at the intersection. Innovation happens at the intersections. That’s where the new ideas come from. And multipotentialites, with all of their backgrounds, are able to access a lot of these points of intersection.
• Rapid learning: when multipotentialites become interested in something, we go hard. We observe everything we can get our hands on. We’re also used to being beginners, because we’ve been beginners so many times in the past, and this means that we’re less afraid of trying new things and stepping out of our comfort zones.
• Adaptability: that is, the ability to morph into whatever you need to be in a given situation.

So if you’re a polymath, don’t let what society’s ‘shoulds’ change you or shame you. Own it. If you’re still on a path to discovering what you want to do in life, that’s okay. If you’re an expert and want only to follow one career path, that’s also okay. The point is, let’s stop applying outside narratives onto individual rhetorics. Embrace your current reality and make the most of your uniqueness and what it can add to the world. I myself look forward to embracing who I am and discovering different passions in my life.