And why the future belongs to multi-potentiality!

The term “multi-passionate” is increasingly being used, especially among millennials. Multi-talented, multipotentialite, scanner, polymath, renaissance person, and generalist are related terms, all used to describe individuals with multiple interests who struggle to settle on a career. Thanks to Marie Forleo, this term is becoming common knowledge.

If you are like me and thrive on exploring multiple fields, you know that choosing a single path can be nearly impossible. Multipotentialites, people with exceptional talents in diverse areas, often struggle with this challenge. The beauty, though, is that in today’s workplace, having a wide range of skills and the ability to pivot quickly isn’t just nice to have; it’s essential.

Organizations need people who can adapt, innovate, and help teams navigate change. That is where multipotentialites shine. We bring creativity, fresh perspectives, and cognitive flexibility, the very skills the World Economic Forum flags as critical for the future of work. When you are comfortable moving across disciplines, you are better equipped to connect ideas and generate original solutions.

Both cognitive flexibility and multipotentiality are tied to rapid learning and skill acquisition. These are precisely the strengths companies are hunting for as new technologies and roles emerge. With half the global workforce needing to reskill, the ability to learn fast and adapt isn’t a bonus; it’s a necessity. That’s why more organizations now seek out multi-talented, creative people.

Multipotentialites are not only the future of the workplace, because we connect the dots others might miss. We are the driving force behind innovation, adaptability, and positive change.

Multi-passionates reshaping how organizations think, learn, and grow.

Are you a multi-passionate person?

It all starts with doing many different, unrelated things and being criticized for not focusing on just one. 

If you feel lost when listening to other people telling you about the one particular thing they are pursuing, or if you can’t imagine anything more boring than a niche/specialized position, then, no question about it, you are a multi-passionate!

Juggling different hats is what fills you with joy and a feeling of accomplishment. A multi-passionate or multipotentialite individual is someone who finds it challenging to answer the question, “What do you want to become in the future, or what particular career do you want?”. Having varied passions, hobbies, and talents that you genuinely enjoy makes it difficult to prioritize one and give up the others: there is just so much you find interesting!

Examples of multi-passionate entrepreneurs.

Marie Forleo, Jenna Kutcher, Melyssa Griffin, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, and Richard Branson are good examples of multi-passionate people in today’s business environment. I would go so far as to say that almost every successful entrepreneur is a multi-passionate. I would even dare to say that to be an effective entrepreneur and/or leader, you need to be multi-passionate.

So, if you are multi-passionate, why do you not step into your full potential and finally start your own business or begin taking your career seriously?

This is what is holding you back as a multi-passionate…

Society is primarily built for and around specialists: individuals who specialize in one field/skill and build a career around it (although this is changing rapidly).

It all started with industrialization and the need for optimized processes, which involved assigning each worker a specific task. Back then, this seemed like a great innovation, but now, in modern times, it is a major cause of anxiety, depression, and the feeling of not being able to contribute fully (Spector, 2002). It’s fair to say that mental well-being and the personal sense of purpose may not have been at the forefront of many companies. 

However, just as specialists have their strengths that can make the workplace more vital, so do multi-passionate people!

You have superpowers you may not even be aware of.

For example, you’re a genius when it comes to seeing the big picture, aka holistic thinking. You’re also pretty good at transferable skills, which means you can apply any of your skills anywhere and anytime you need it (Coetzee & Harry, 2023). And, you’re a wiz at making innovative links and thinking outside the box, which the specialists are not so great at. If specialists are mad scientists, we’re mad creatives! Isn’t it incredible to be a multipotentialite?

That doesn’t mean that you are not good at logical thinking or at math. On the contrary, my dear, you are good at all of this. That is what makes you a multipotentialite.

The process stops for you whenever you have understood the process of becoming proficient in a specific skill and knowing how to link it with other fields. Your interest is not how to become the best in one specific area; your interest and desire is to understand how we can make this world better.

Obstacles to overcome.

Sadly, many multi-passionates are also troubled by low self-esteem. Distracted by the belief that they are ‘supposed to’ find that one thing that they will then do for the rest of their life, and driven by outside pressure to become a version of themselves that makes sense to others, they frequently suffer from an innate lack of confidence. But you know better: if it doesn’t feel right, it’s not right. Unfortunately, the emotional side of learning has been widely left out of the school system.

How to thrive as a multi-passionate entrepreneur?

(And yes, this is a real term.) 

1. Build trust

You need to trust yourself and trust that all of your detours will make sense in the end. You go through life collecting knowledge and experiences, often not knowing how they fit together. Yet you have to trust the process. Because if you stop, you will not find your why and your purpose. The last thing that you need is to look back at your life with regret and open questions.

2. Build confidence

Building confidence is the second pillar of a successful life as a multi-passionate. That means you need to start recognizing your achievements, your individual talents, and the accumulation of skills and interests that constitute your full potential. Defining a career or business (I rather prefer that path – more about it later) as the one that you are meant to create for yourself.

3. Build a community

I know it sometimes feels like the entire world fails to understand you. That includes those who know and love you. But please, don’t give up. Instead of dwelling on the fact that you are not understood, start extending your community to ensure you do not lose your multi-passionate magic. You are not alone – there are plenty of us out here. This is your big advantage. And being among others who are also not following set structures will help you stand out in the crowd. This is your key to reaching your dreams, the ones you were born to turn into reality. Only you can do it.

4. Complete your goals

Okay, this is the hardest part: taking one idea and running with it.

To date, you may have worked in many different roles across various industries, but now it is up to you—and only you—to take stock of your experiences and skills, and summon all your courage to take the next step. 

• Allow yourself to remember your crazy big dream.
• Draw up a strategy around it and visualize how a career or business that allows you to achieve these goals will look like.
• Stop questioning your ability. 
• And, because nothing feels better than success, GO FOR IT!

Because nothing feels better than succeeding and proving everyone wrong. 

You weren’t born to conform, but to break free and create the unimaginable. 

Let’s break some myths…

Stereotypes and stigmatizations, often used as political weapons, hold most societies back from developing. Because multipotentialites are like sponges, myths and stereotypes affect us even more. It can take years to undo this damage (sometimes also necessitating help from a professional), but you can do it. 

I remember my godmother telling me once that I have always been different and I will never be normal. It did hurt at the time, but it also strengthened the rebel in me. In truth, I had never intended to be normal or live a regular life, so why not embrace her endorsement?

How multi-passionates can own their unique strengths!

In case you are still working on dismantling every belief that is holding you back or trying to come up with clever responses next time someone tells you that you are a lost cause, please present them with these fascinating facts: 

Multipassionates learn skills that transfer across various areas, including different trades. Such broad experience means you know how to apply your skills to whatever project you’re assigned to. Even if you must use your talents in a drastically different way for each project. You have the ability to transfer knowledge like no other. 

Being indecisive or having issues focusing isn’t your problem. You like to simply know and are not indecisive or have issues focusing. You just like to expand your knowledge more than a specialist. And experiences such as travel and extreme sports are an extension and a way for you to push the boundaries of your mental capacity. Essentially, you want to explore and try everything, and to live life to the fullest.

You are not lost or confused. Society has been just pressuring you to become someone that you are not. Allowing yourself to embrace who you are is the first step towards healing and reaching your full potential. There is nothing wrong with you. Society has been pressuring you to become someone that you are not. Allowing yourself to embrace who you truly are is the first step toward healing and finally stepping into your full potential. Being a multipotential is a positive part of your character: a trait and the way your brain works. (By the way, yes, I believe that more women are multi-passionate, but more on that later).

Life is not a serious matter.

It is actually ok to discover and explore. Multi-passionates or multipotentialites have created the greatest inventions and stories in history. Katharina the Great, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Ada Lovelace, and Margaret Knight are just a few. We like to learn a lot of things that seem to be disconnected, but in the grand scheme of things, everything comes together.

You don’t have to choose one thing. On the contrary, you would be killing the essence of your gift by choosing just one thing. 

This is what happens if you finally embrace your true potential!

Once I made the calculated decision of living life my way, it took me some time to put all the pieces together. It’s not a quick process and patience is certainly something that you will need. 

However, once you decide not to care about other people’s opinions and simply do what you want, your life will be filled with much more happiness and joy. You will be truly impacting the world in a positive way. 

Don’t give up. Keep on moving forward!

Resources for multipotentialite:

• Emilie Wapnick’s amazing TED talk for “multipotentialites” (about how some of us don’t have just “one true calling,” but many callings).
• Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher (Barbara calls us “scanners” and her book is full of helpful definitions and actionable techniques).
• Liz Gilbert’s talk on Oprah is about how you don’t have to have one single passion, but follow your curiosities (she calls us “hummingbirds”).

Take action and embrace your multi-potentialite nature:

• 1. Make a list with everything that you have achieved.
• 2. Make another list with everything that you still want to do.
• 3. Explore what values in life matter to you
• 4. And start stitching your talents together. Which skills have you been using the most in all these different areas of your life?
• 5. Start allowing yourself to rediscover your crazy big dream again!

A Take-Home Message

I really hope that this article gives you hope and motivates you. Remember, you’re not alone, there are many multi-passionates out there, and I work with many of them:  my team consists mostly of multi-passionates. You have one of the greatest gifts and it is up to you to show it to the world. 

If you know someone who needs to read this, please forward it to them.

Please also connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Reference:

Coetzee, M., & Harry, N. (2023). The skills that help employees adapt: Empirical validation of a four-factor model of adaptability. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 995565. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.995565

Liu, D., Chen, X., & Yao, M. (2021). How Does Dualistic Passion Fuel Academic Thriving? A Joint Moderated–Mediating Model. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 703380. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.703380

Woods, N. N., Mylopoulos, M., Nutik, M., & Freeman, R. (2021). Defining the specialist generalist: The imperative for adaptive expertise in family medicine. Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 67(5), 321–322. https://doi.org/10.46747/cfp.6705321

Zacher, H. (2020). Career adaptability research: A literature review with scientific knowledge mapping. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(7), 2665. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072665

Spector, P. E. (2002). Industrial and organizational psychology: Research and practice (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.