Hello, I’m a Multipotentialite.

Yeah, I just came across this word a few weeks ago on the fine website Puttylike, but it fits me completely. So what is a Multipotentialite?

It’s someone with a multitude of passions and interests. It’s the jack-of-all-trades but master-of-none. If you have trouble sticking to one vocational course or sticking to one hobby, you might be a multipotentialite.

Leonardo da Vinci may be the best historical example of an acknowledged genius who struggled with the difficulties associated with multipotentiality. He failed to complete many of the projects he started, and has been quoted as saying:

“I have wasted my hours” and “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.”

Sounds absurd, eh? Not inside the mind of the multipotentialite.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

“Multipotentiality is an educational and psychological term referring to a pattern found among intellectually gifted individuals. Multipotentialites generally have diverse interests across numerous domains and may be capable of success in many endeavors or professions, they are confronted with unique decisions as a result of these choices.”

O.K., so for the record, I am not a self-declared “gifted individual.” I was “diagnosed” as gifted in the fourth grade, and went through all the associated classes in school. Which basically meant I was reading Shakespeare at age 10, and doing artsy crap in the gifted kids classroom while the other kids were bored out or their skulls.

So, apparently I am a bona-fide genius operating well below my potential.

Laurie Diane Shute made some observsations as she studied multipotentialites:
“When encountering multiple opportunities, some students may experience confusion, anxiety and frustration because they fear missing something or making a wrong decision.” Frequently this results in overscheduling (check), high stress levels (check), impulsive or conformist choices (check), feelings of social alienation (check), purposelessness, apathy, and depression (check, check, check)!

All you have to do to determine if you might be a multipotentialite is look over your shoulder. What has you life path looked like up until now? Is it riddled with unfinished projects? Did you change your major three times in college? Does your resume look like it belongs to someone with multiple personality disorder?

Here’s my story in a nutshell:

I was in a punk rock band in high school.
I made movies in high school.
I was a film major in college.
I was a threatre major in college.
I was a communications major in college.
I attended a Bible institute after college.
I have worked as a Pastor.
I have worked as a VP at Chase Bank.
I have worked on political campaigns.
I currently run a non-profit organization.
I currently make movies.
I currently host a radio show.
I wrote a book.
I read large economics text books for fun.
I also read books on church planting.
I also read books on business and marketing.
I also read books on libertarianism.

The thing is, while I can certainly identify trends and patterns in all of this, I find it impossible to commit to one small, targeted niche within it.

Unless I can become the punk-rock, film-making, Libertarian Pastor who plants a church and hosts a radio show with a segment on Austrian Economics.

The point is that I have trouble divorcing myself from any one of these paths. I continue to be passionate about indie music and film, passionate about why the church in America is lame and how to make it better, passionate about spreading ideas of free market economics and personal liberty, passionate about being a voice of these ideas through radio, film and art.

So, while I am no Leonardo Da Vinci (with a paintbrush at least) I can totally relate to him when he says:

“I have wasted my hours” and “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.”

One of my biggest fears is that I will fail to reach my God-given potential. That i will spend my life traveling down rabbit-trails and cul-de-sacs, following the latest shiny thing that catches my eye and attention.

I have to force myself to focus and bring something, ANYTHING, across the finish line to the point of completion.

So I ask: Are there any other multipotentialites out there? If so, let me know what you think about all of this. Do you share some of these same frustrations and fears? What are you doing to overcome them in your life?

Get Shareaholic

http://profiles.google.com/amandajeansteele amanda steele

oh my goodness! this is me! i’ll have to mull this over a little more before i give you a more enlightened response, and i have nothing to tell you about what i am doing to overcome the fears, etc, but just i am glad you posted this… i will tell you that i tend to start twenty different books, become passionate about what i am reading and share it with others, but then never actually finish the books… currently i am studying how to plant a container garden, the evils of the food industry, the values of eating in season and locally, grace-based parenting and other non-typical non-baptist discipline theories, i’d like to start rob bell’s new book, all while attempting for the fifty-billionth time to read the Bible all the way through (and failing at that i fear…) i feel guilty about the paintings and art supplies that lie dormant in the basement, all the books that lie on my shelf beckoning me to read them as well, and the homemade projects and gifts started but not finished in my quest to pull away from a dependence on commercialism and stuff…. oh, and i’ve never worked at the same place for more than 3 years. maybe there should be a Multipotentialites Anonymous group…
Jason W Rink

Amanda-I am not at all surprised this resonates with you. It’s also interesting to note that a lot of the frustration/failure you have probably felt in the church regarding not finishing things you start (Bible in a year, etc.) is magnified by the fact that there are far fewer creative-types and more academic-types in the American church. At least, for decades it has been that way. So, academics CRAVE order, schedules, charts, etc. and I believe that the church has unwittingly places spiritual point values on things that appeal to the natural inclination of academics. Creatives, on the other hand, find themselves trying to fit into a box framed by academics, and struggling to find their place to serve.
http://melindaguerra.myadventures.org Melinda

Yes.

I, like Amanda who sent this to me, am much the same way. I’ve been at my current job for a whole year, which feels like FOREVER…
In high school I did chapel committee… and yearbook… and fine arts… and debate… and started a service club… and hung out with all the drama and art people… and the spiritual people… and the leader people…

i did missions after high school for half a year.

then college. then changed my major. then left school because i was going insane. then changed my major again. then left again. then finally graduated.

and am now working… not in my major.

i like to read… and to paint… and to write… and to lead… and to empower others to make changes… and to write about theology… and to start stuff and have the hardest time finishing.

Yep– i’m with you. Especially on the “ooh– shiny!” To your list of symptoms, I’d like to add, particularly for multipotentialites in ministry, “paralyzing guilt over seeing something go undone which we could do… so we add it to our routine, which is really adding to the number of things that don’t actually get done…”
Zane

I am! and I do!
Harold Thomas

Jason:
I predict that you will get over it in your mid-fifties. You will reach a point in life when you realize that it is more than half over, and that will force you to resolve the conflicts in favor of _something_. I was a “multipotentialite” until then. I have more hobbies than Obama has czars, and few of them are pursued satisfactorily. After years of prayer, I concluded that I needed to focus on writing a blog (The Ohio Republic: http://www.ohrepublic,info), and preparing to take a leadership role in the coming revolution. I now feel that I am living up to my potential, and that I happen to be a late-bloomer (like Colonel Sanders).
http://profiles.google.com/amandajeansteele amanda steele

yup, you got me. i’m either trying to stuff myself into a box or ranting against the boxes… one of these days i’ll just be comfortable being me inside the church even if i don’t fit… interesting related blogpost by donald miller: http://donmilleris.com/2011/04/05/unlike-todays-church-leaders-none-of-the-early-disciples-were-professional-educators/
Debbie

Relieved that I am not the only one, I have decided my newest project is to be temporarily happy with not being able to finish one thing that I have started, and I’m off to find something shiny to distract myself with, I’m not kidding:)
General Hope

You are not alone in this feeling!
Phima256

Sounds more like you are an multiactualite!

I myself have felt like jack of all trades….

Critical Thinking instructor
Roller Derby Girl
Librarian
Body Language Certified
Finance/HR Coordinator
Level 2 Krav Maga
MA in Philosophy
MA in Library Science
Latin HS teacher
Handwriting Hobbist

Nutrition Enthusiast, Film Major, Religious Studies Major….etc.

It’s great to have so many interests, though the world does not value it as much as the focused thinker on one task. I still would prefer the dabbling that I have done as a polymath. Life is more rich for those who see many pattern in many places…