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A review by shae_purcell
How to Be Everything: A Guide for Those Who (Still) Don't Know What They Want to Be When They Grow Up by Emilie Wapnick
3.0
I don't remember how I first came across the term multipotentialite, but I do remember I was led to Emile Wapnick's book after listening to her TED talk - Why some of us don't have one true calling. I could relate in so many ways. I struggle in the areas other multipotentialites tend to struggle (work, productivity, and self-esteem), I enjoy achieving a deep level of knowledge on different subjects (even if I do tend to bounce around from special interest to special interest), and I have an intense curiosity about all sorts of different things. There are other traits, but these resonated most with me. It can be pretty frustrating for someone who needs a plan to go through life without having one.
Multipotentiality doesn't appear to be a new concept - other books have been written on the topic, only these use different terms to describe the idea (polymath, scanner, renaissance man/person/soul). Since I haven't read the other books, I'm not sure how much of this information is new or perhaps just recycled and revamped for another generation. Even so, I hadn't heard this take before so I took it all in gladly. Some key takeaways for me:
Don't confuse profitability with value.
It's okay to have more than one why.
Develop your proficiency until it is either professionally useful or personally meaningful.
And this one hit hard -
We punish ourselves when we change our minds. There is intense guilt and shame. When you lose interest in something, you are left with the painful realization that YOU WERE WRONG. I don't know who I am anymore!
Why is there so much negativity around changing our minds? God forbid we don't know exactly what we want to do for the next fifty years at the age of 18!
I appreciated the practical tips for various work models toward the end of the book (though some of the steps were a bit redundant between the different approaches) and the focus on life design instead of career planning. I can't say that Wapnick helped me figure out my passion or my goals or what I want to "be" when I grow up, but overall I found this book to be both practically helpful and personally enlightening.
Multipotentiality doesn't appear to be a new concept - other books have been written on the topic, only these use different terms to describe the idea (polymath, scanner, renaissance man/person/soul). Since I haven't read the other books, I'm not sure how much of this information is new or perhaps just recycled and revamped for another generation. Even so, I hadn't heard this take before so I took it all in gladly. Some key takeaways for me:
Don't confuse profitability with value.
It's okay to have more than one why.
Develop your proficiency until it is either professionally useful or personally meaningful.
And this one hit hard -
We punish ourselves when we change our minds. There is intense guilt and shame. When you lose interest in something, you are left with the painful realization that YOU WERE WRONG. I don't know who I am anymore!
Why is there so much negativity around changing our minds? God forbid we don't know exactly what we want to do for the next fifty years at the age of 18!
I appreciated the practical tips for various work models toward the end of the book (though some of the steps were a bit redundant between the different approaches) and the focus on life design instead of career planning. I can't say that Wapnick helped me figure out my passion or my goals or what I want to "be" when I grow up, but overall I found this book to be both practically helpful and personally enlightening.