Have you ever been told to just pick one thing and stick with it?
Maybe you’ve bounced between careers, hobbies, or creative projects your whole life, and somewhere along the way, you started wondering if something was wrong with you.
Maybe you’ve even wondered if you’re broken because you can’t seem to settle down and commit to one path. (And as someone who travels full-time, I totally get this!)
But here’s the good news: there’s nothing wrong with you!
And there’s actually a word for what you are: A multipotentialite! So, what does this mean? And how exactly is it a strength?
Can I Call Myself a Multipotentialite?
The term multipotentialite was coined by Emilie Wapnick in her popular 2015 TED Talk, Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling. Break it down, and it makes perfect sense: multi (many) + potential + ite (a person).
A multipotentialite is someone with many interests and creative pursuits—someone who doesn’t have just one true calling. You might also know the concept as being a polymath, a Renaissance person, or a scanner.
One quick distinction, though: a polymath has mastered multiple fields.
A multipotentialite is someone drawn to many things, whether or not they’ve reached expert-level in all of them. So if you’ve ever felt pulled in ten directions at once and loved every single one? You can absolutely call yourself a multipotentialite!
How Do You Know if You’re a Multipotentialite?
You might be a multipotentialite if:
- You dread the question “So, what do you do?” because the answer is never simple.
- You dive into new interests with intense enthusiasm, then move on once you feel like you’ve “got it.”
- Your resume looks like it belongs to five different people.
- You get restless when you’re stuck doing the same thing for too long.
- You’ve been called a “jack of all trades” more times than you can count.
If that sounds familiar, keep reading. Because those qualities you’ve been told are weaknesses? They’re actually some of your greatest strengths!
7 Benefits of Being a Multipotentialite
Alright, let’s get right to it. Here are the top benefits of being a multipotentialite!
1. You Pick Up New Skills Fast
When you’ve been a beginner as many times as you have, you get really good at the process of learning itself.
Multipotentialites:
- quickly absorb information
- recognize patterns across disciplines
- build on skills they’ve already acquired elsewhere
Plus, most skills are more transferable than people realize, and you’ve been proving that your whole life! Pretty cool, right?
2. You See the Big Picture
While specialists go deep in one area, multipotentialites have the advantage of breadth.
You can:
- see how different fields connect
- understand problems from multiple angles
- make more well-rounded decisions because of it
This kind of contextual thinking is incredibly valuable, especially in a world that’s becoming more complex by the day (yeah, I’m looking at you, AI!).
3. You’re Naturally Adaptable
For most of us, change is scary. It’s uncertain. Unknown. It means less stability.
But…. change doesn’t rattle you the way it rattles most people. You’ve reinvented yourself before—probably more than once—and that makes you flexible in ways that others aren’t.
Whether it’s a career shift, a new environment, or an unexpected curveball, you know how to land on your feet. This is definitely something to be celebrated.
4. You Bring Fresh Ideas to the Table
Innovation doesn’t usually happen inside a single lane. It happens at the intersections, where two or more unrelated ideas collide. Like Steve Jobs said,
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something.”
So, get this: Because multipotentialites have so many fields to draw from, they’re naturally wired to make unexpected connections and come up with creative solutions that a specialist might never think of.
In other words, multipotenitalites are potentially some of our greatest problem solvers! You see what others don’t.
5. You Can Connect With Almost Anyone
Having experience across different fields means you can speak the language of many different types of people.
You can talk to the designer and the data analyst and the business strategist —and help them understand each other. This ability to translate between such different groups is a rare and seriously underrated skill.
Related Article: 7 Wonderful Ways to Enjoy a Deeper Emotional Connection With Your Partner
6. You’ll Rarely Be Bored
For a multipotentialite, the world is endlessly interesting.
There’s always a new rabbit hole to dive into, a new skill to try, a new project calling your name. While some people struggle to find motivation, you usually have the opposite problem: too many exciting things to choose from!
And this means… you’re rarely bored. Not exactly something to complain about. In fact, it can be a really great thing.
7. You’re More Resilient Than You Think
All those pivots, restarts, and “I’m trying something new again” moments? They’ve built something in you that’s easy to overlook: resilience.
You’re comfortable with uncertainty. You know how to start over without falling apart. And that ability to adapt and keep going, even when the path isn’t linear, is one of the most valuable traits you can have (again, especially in this changing world!).
Related Article: 5 Ways to Build Your Resilience as an Adult (Even if You Didn’t Have a Supportive Childhood)
The Best Advice? Embrace It
You’re not scattered. You’re not flaky.
You’re a multipotentialite. You’re excited about the world and what’s to come. And let’s be honest, this world with globalization and technology accelerating at speeds we almost can’t even comprehend, needs more of that!
We need people who are curious enough to explore, brave enough to pivot, and creative enough to connect the dots that nobody else can see.
So, the next time someone tells you to pick one thing? Smile, and keep being everything! This really has advantages, and it makes you, you!
Read Next: Feeling Overwhelmed? Here Are 6 Tips You Can Use to Declutter Your Mind
