Will you do it all?
I wanted to be the first woman in space. The first girl wrestler in junior high. The first woman to do, well, whatever. But fame comes with problems: egos, drugs, and gone tomorrows.
In grade six, I wrote that I aspired to be a roller derby star. My teacher, not satisfied, told me to try another stab. We settled with prime minister.
Yet, I craved more.
At university, many students major in what they did in high school: math or English. Instead, I wisely chose to explorebut circled back to math. I then moved to another field with hopes to minor in physics, drama, or dance. Settling with a single subject stifled my soul.
Some people specialize. When my young cousin fell into a coma, one nurse stood out. Compassionate. Empathic. All her life this woman loved nursing those around her. As a tiny girl, she had no question of her calling.
Some people feel scattered and spread. The solution? Seek careers that mix up plenty of passionsor specialize and tend to hobbies, says Emilie Wapnick, author of How to Be Everything. Marketing marks my passion. Where else does one job combine design, analytics, video, events, writing, and WordPress? Paradise.
Consider your hobbies. I delve in robotics, martial arts, and weightlifting. To juggle our passions, cut out time wasters. I’ve watched less than twenty time-sucking TV hours since 1996but more than two thousand at the movies.
To find your passions, drum up lists of lifes highs. When I recorded my first song in a studio, I felt glee. When I ran for school president in junior high (but lost), I felt pumped. When I pumped iron and punched pads, I felt free. My advice? Do more euphoria.
Emilie Wapnick gives the nod to more euphoria in her book How To Be Everything:
Sometimes we spend a lifetime figuring out what we love to do.
“The idea of doing one thing forever can sound like a nightmare to us” (p. 14).
The notion that we have one calling is misleading. Many of us have plenty of callings.
Multipotentialites are people with many interests and hobbies. These people bubble over with curiosity.
Multipotentialites have multiple passions. The books you own shed insight into passions to pursue.
Multipotentialites apply skills from one hobby or interest to the nextin other words, they show talent at synthesizing; they innovate.
Multipotentialites get labeled as Jack-of-all-trades. Yet, Jack-of-all-trades specialize, too. [Papa serves as a handyman electrician, mechanic, carpenter, and plumberbut shines as an industry-leading entrepreneur.]
Multipotentialites make great entrepreneurs. Working for yourself lets you dive into many duties.
Do stuff just for fun, too. “Be careful not to confuse profitability with value . [A hobby] might provide us with opportunities to grow, to give back, to improve our mental or physical health, to spend quality time with our family ” (p. 45).
A creative type travelled the world. When people asked him, “What do you do?” he bristled. A better response? “I do it all.”
