Category: Multipotentialites

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Multipotentialites

The Multi-Talented are the Future of Work

Photo by Nigel Tadyanehondo on Unsplash

From reading articles about the future of work, it is becoming increasingly clear that multi-talented, multi-passionate people (multipotentialites) will be the workers of the future. Most recently, I listened to a radio programme with business & workplace author and futurist Alexandra Levit about the future of work. From a multipotentialite perspective, the points that stood out were

  • Workers will have to be more flexible in terms of how and where they are working: part-time, freelance, remote etc.

  • Work will increasingly be project-based and workers might only be hired for the duration of a project

  • We will see a lot more career customisation:

    • Companies will be looking for broader areas of expertise in their employees

    • Employees will have to become more agile and shift a lot more from position to position within an organisation or between companies

    • Companies will be expecting a variety of skills and the ability to continuously learn and re-skill quickly from their employees.

Some companies like PWC are already taking action on these developments. 

It sounds as if we are moving back to a more generalist workforce. According to Barbara Sher, having several careers or fields of interest was not frowned upon until WWII and the space race led to specialisation in science and technology and from there to other industries. Suddenly, specialists were sought after and multi-talented and multi-passionate people were regarded with suspicion. After all, one of the signs that you are indeed a multipotentialite is the realisation that there is nothing wrong with you after finding out that you belong to this personality type (Find out what negative and positive identifiers of a multipotentialite are here). That shows you how much society still thinks that changing jobs or careers or interests frequently is not a good thing. But this is about to change.

Multipotentialites already have the necessary skills and experience needed to be successful in a changing work environment. We tend to accumulate a broad range of skills and expertise working in different industries and careers. We thrive on variety and change careers or positions frequently, which is why project-based and flexible work is perfect for us. And one of our superpowers is rapid learning – when we get interested in a new field, we spend 100% of our focus on learning as much as we can about it as fast as possible. We love learning and we know how to do it fast.

This Future of Work scenario will give multipotentialites more freedom to be who they are the way that Karl Marx envisioned a society “…where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic.” (Marx & Engels, The German Ideology. 1845).

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Multipotentialites Pathfinding

Create Space

Create Space

Thanks to Marie Kondo and a general trend for simplifying your life, decluttering has become a buzzword. Working on myself and with my clients over the last few years has confirmed for me that creating space is a vital first step in the process of finding out what you want to do. In order to change your life, you need a “Space2Change” (boom, boom!). 

If you feel stuck because you have been putting the needs of others before your own for so long that you don’t know anymore what you want yourself, you need to create a space in which to find yourself. This can be a whole room if that’s available to you or even a desk that is just for you. You need to create a blank canvas on which you can paint your dreams.

I know that some creatives thrive on clutter, but it is usually their own – little things they have picked up here and there that inspire them. And if your desk or space ends up being cluttered in this way, that is fine! Once the clutter reflects your own interests and dreams. And if you get stuck again – you know what to do first!

Decluttering helps people who are overwhelmed with choice or never had the freedom to decide what they wanted to do. When you declutter, you are getting rid of all the things that are no longer important to you, so the things that are important to you can be noticed. You will get a clearer picture of what it is you want in your life and what you don’t. On an energy level, all the things you surround yourself with take energy from you. When you get rid of things, you also free up more energy, especially creative energy. And decluttering will give you a sense of success – you have achieved something even if it is just tidying up one drawer. In turn, this feeling of achievement will motivate you to take action. So, even if decluttering might sound like a great way of procrastinating, it is actually a way of getting you out of procrastination and into action. Because decluttering is taking action.

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Multipotentialites

What Makes a Multipotentialite?

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Multipotentialites

How do I know if I am a multipotentialite?

How to Change Careers Blog Post Space2Change
How to Change Careers Blog Post Space2Change

How do I know if I am a multipotentialite?

Well, chances are that if you hear about what multipotentialites are and experience a big relief and the feeling that finally you have found what is “wrong” with you, you are one. A lot of us have spent their lives feeling that there is something wrong with us because we cannot settle on just one thing, career, field. And we have dreaded the question of either “What do you want to do?” or “What do you do?” because we don’t have a simple socially acceptable answer to this.

Another sign can be that you get easily bored and that the boredom feels incredibly painful to you. For me, it feels like I want to jump out of my skin. We also love learning. That is our superpower. We know how to learn as we constantly explore new interests and acquire new skills.

There are many different types of multipotentialites. Probably as many as there are names for us like scanners, Renaissance men or women, multipassionate and the list goes on and on. Some of us constantly change businesses or careers, some have a certain set of interests that they come back to in cycles, and again others juggle 3 or more projects at the same time. There are also certain professions that are ideal for multipotentialites like journalist because it gives them the opportunity to delve into ever new subjects.

So, did you find yourself in this brief description of multipotentialites? Then I welcome you to the wonderful world of scanners. To find out more you can delve into the work of Barbara Sher or Emily Wapnick. Or you can contact me if you want one-to-one help in finding out what your version of a multipod life should be. I know what it is like to feel paralysed by too many choices and the pressure and lack of understanding from your environment. Let me help you to discover what works for you and what you want to explore next.

 

 

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Barbara Sher Success Teams Career Change Multipotentialites Pathfinding

Registration for Barbara Sher Success Team Dublin Now Open

Barbara Sher Success Team starting soon in Dublin!
Barbara Sher Success Team starting soon in Dublin!
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Career Change Multipotentialites Pathfinding

Dream Career or just a Hobby?

Dream Career or just a Hobby Space2change Coaching
Dream Career or just a Hobby Space2change Coaching

Hopefully by now you have an idea of your dream job or business. Now I want to make sure that you indeed love what you want to do. So, the next thing is to test your dream against reality. A lot of people find themselves in their dream career, only to realise that it is not what they thought. I know several people who became yoga teachers and belatedly realised that practising it full-time took all the fun out of it. Opening a scuba-diving school in Thailand might seem like an endless holiday, but it is very hard work and will leave you only little time to enjoy the sun and beach yourself. Beware of escape fantasies you have when you hate your job.

So, how can you test your dream? There are two ways:

Continue reading “Dream Career or just a Hobby?”

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Multipotentialites Pathfinding

Are you a Scanner?

There are many words for this phenomenon: scanner, multipotentialite, Renaissance Soul, polymath… Scanner is a term that American Life Coach, author and of course scanner, Barbara Sher came up with decades ago when she noticed a peculiar behaviour in a lot of her clients. They didn’t know what to do because they had too many interests to choose from!

Does that sound familiar? Here are some more common traits that scanners experience:

Continue reading “Are you a Scanner?”
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Career Change Multipotentialites Pathfinding

You are not stupid, lazy or a coward!

Having trouble figuring out what you want to do with your life?
Having trouble figuring out what you want to do with your life?

Having trouble figuring out what you want to do?

 

Every time you ask yourself “What do I want to do?” you draw a blank. Or you think of 101 different things you could do and each of them looks equally enticing. The more you think about it or try to choose the more frustrated and stuck you get. And instead of moving forward with your life you are paralysed.

 

Sound familiar? That’s how I felt for long periods of my life. And here is the good news: There is nothing wrong with you. You are not stupid, lazy or a coward because you haven’t found or pursued the passion(s) of your life. Here are some of the reasons why you can’t figure out what you want to do.

 

Continue reading “You are not stupid, lazy or a coward!”
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Career Change Multipotentialites

The Good Enough Job

The Good Enough Job - career change and multipotentialites
A solution for multipotentialites or scanners and career changers

 

A solution for scanners and a transition for career changers can be the Good Enough Job. This is a job that doesn’t stress you or bore you to tears, but gives you the money and time to do the things you really want to do without having to worry how you are going to pay the next bill.

Continue reading “The Good Enough Job”
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Career Change Multipotentialites

Keep Learning

Continuous learning

In our modern society hardly any jobs will be for life anymore. It is very likely that you will have to change companies or even careers sooner or later. You might also have to work longer until retirement and update your skills continually to stay attractive to prospective employers. So make life-long learning a habit now.

 

For the multipotentialites amongst you this is the easy part as you very probably love learning and trying new things. You also thrive on change because it gives you the variety you crave.

Continue reading “Keep Learning”