Too many interests, too little time. A confession of a multipotentialite.
You said what? I said, “multipotentialite”.
I grew up in a time and environment that praised specialization and deep knowledge in a given subject. Lawyers, surgeons, scientists. The most talented and successful people always had “a calling”, many times since schools, college, or even earlier.
I never had one. Despite constant reshuffling in my head and imagining myself in different roles, I could never figure out who I want to be when I grow up. Everything was interesting, but not compelling enough to spend my life doing it.
The only thing that I was sure of is that I like to observe, think, and analyze. I thought I want to be a philosopher or a meteorologist.
It was in the mid 2000s, back in Ukraine, when I was choosing my college. The higher education system in Ukraine is not as flexible as in the US, and taking breaks, exploring different classes was not a matter of applying to a class or not. It was a set curriculum for 4–6 years. My practical family of engineers suggested I be an engineer. Student demography at the Technical University of Ukraine was a majority hair-metal-band type at that time, and I thought, hell yeah, I love punk and rock-n-roll, I will fit right in. Engineering sounds fun. So I chose to major in Science of Acoustics.
I never worked a day as an acoustical engineer. I graduated in 2010 when the economy was still recovering from the 2008 crisis. Finding a job in such a niche field as a fresh grad was almost impossible. I learned Java with Oracle tutorials and landed a job in Charlotte, NC, as a software associate (junior software developer) at Capgemini, Inc., a huge international consulting and technology services company.
That was my first real job, and the first time I realized that I want to be my own boss. I quit, and in the following eight years, I have worked as a freelance tester for various companies, customer support specialist, a software engineer at WhatsApp/Facebook. I’ve co-developed two Android apps Abris & Skedio, and started an online store of coffee goods (totally failed). I co-founded a VC-funded business in embedded electronics, which I currently run as a CEO. I was also part of batch 26 in 500 Startups, one of the best startup accelerators in the world.
All these years I had multiple interests that I tried to pursue at the same time I was working a one and a half job, on average. On and off, I did film photography, tinkered with electronics projects, mastered FB ads, learned 3D modeling and printing, went to community college for a few quarters, started courses to get real estate license, took motorcycle riding course, started learning Lakota, Spanish, Polish (can’t speak any), watched undisclosed amount of different online courses, did some crocheting, took Yin Yoga classes. I read books about the economy, programming, self-development, and a few fictions.
Also, this is not an extensive list of all the exciting things I did, and it doesn’t even mention the wants, like, reviving guitar skills, learning to sing, writing a travel book, and so on.
It might sound fun, but my hunger for knowledge and different pursuits is making me pretty miserable sometimes. I feel lack of time, rush to do more, FOMO. I ask myself — “Why can’t you just be a CEO? There are so many hats in this role that are available to you.” The word “just” is pretty ironic here.
I think that the accessibility of information, convenience of online learning, ease with which one can start a business is a great gift of modern time, but also a challenge for overly-curious minds like mine. It really feels like one life is not enough to try and do all the things.
It took me a long time to stop shaming myself for having such a crazy number of interests. The eye-opener was a book by Emilie Wapnick “How to Be Everything”. She taught me the word “multipotentialite” and to be kinder to myself. I realized that curiosity which I didn’t lose as I grew up (or did I grow up, after all?) is a great strength of mine. Being a generalist gives me the freedom to create with whatever medium life gives me, without fear of starting new or failing. I know I can master most of the things. Maybe on the second attempt, maybe third, but I will succeed.
I finally figured it out - my only true calling is freedom.
