TED Talk of the Week: Why You Can Have More Than One Calling
Yes, there’s a name for that too and it’s called “multipotentiality.”
When Emilie Wapnick was a child, she always had trouble answering the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Not because she didn’t have any interests, but because she had too many. When she noticed that the question kept coming up again and again – in high school when she had to select her yearly courses, in college when it was time to pick a major - what was once a cute exercise turned into a question that kept her up at night.
It was then that Wapnick realized that she’s a multipotentialite, as she calls it. In this TED Talk of the Week, Wapnick explains that multipotentialites are people with many interests and creative pursuits. They have not one true calling, but many and - because of this - they’re especially good at idea synthesis, rapid learning and adaptability.
In this 12-minute clip, Wapnick notes that while the question “what do you want to be when you grow up” (and its more mature versions) inspires kids to dream about they could be, it may not inspire them to dream about all that they could be. Now, of course, there’s nothing wrong with people who come out of the womb knowing they want to be a pediatric neurosurgeon – the world needs specialists! But to the multipotentialites out there, Wapnick says: embrace your passions, follow your curiosity, and explore your intersections.
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