Latest / The Christian Reeve Podcast / Multipotentiality & Polymathy | The Christian Reeve Podcast | #127 |

Transcript

Multipotentiality & Polymathy | The Christian Reeve Podcast | #127 | · The Christian Reeve Podcast

0:00
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Christian Reeve
0:04
podcast. It's a discussion episode and
0:07
I'm very excited about this. One to give you a little bit of
0:10
context as to why I am doing this particular one, firstly as
0:15
you know from my episode on goals for 2020 to what I want to
0:20
do moving forward is to do more episodes like this where I
0:24
research a topic in great detail and kind of give my thoughts and
0:28
opinions on it as As it pertains to me or you know, it could be
0:32
for instance, a topic like marketing where I'm actually
0:35
working in that field. So I've got a lot to say on the
0:37
matter. Well it couldn't be something
0:39
that I've got very little knowledge of which is kind of
0:43
the case with this. What happened was that someone
0:49
came up to me. Someone I met recently, let's
0:52
say came up to, we were having a conversation and they mentioned
0:58
this idea of Sensuality or the I might be a multi-part and I was
1:03
like, what's that? And she immediately pointed me
1:07
to a TED Talk by a woman called Emily whack.
1:11
Nick and I went out of my way to check that out and I recommend
1:14
that you all should too. And suddenly I found myself in a
1:19
world, a new world where Not only was I learning about this
1:23
completely new thing that I'd never heard about.
1:26
But also I realized this refers to me.
1:29
Now, when I started doing my research for this episode's, I
1:34
knew I knew it was going to be long.
1:36
I mean, I've got like two pages and notes that I'm going to go
1:39
through and everything. But at the same time, as is the
1:44
case with many fields, when you start sort of looking into them,
1:48
you find yourself going down a rabbit hole, and originally this
1:51
episode was just going to be on Multi potentiality, but then I
1:54
discovered this term called polygamy, 'they.
1:56
I think that's how you say it and it's Closely connected.
2:01
I mean, they're essentially the same thing in the sort of basic
2:05
concept but they are also very different in terms of how people
2:09
Define them and and we'll go into more detail about this
2:14
throughout the episode. But it made me think that this
2:18
has to be a bigger episodes. And then I kind of thought like,
2:21
oh maybe I should do two episodes and I was like, no,
2:23
this should be one kind of big long episode.
2:27
It takes as long as it takes and also So I just thought it would
2:31
be a good opportunity to kind of give my thoughts on this and
2:35
also talk a little bit about how it relates to me, my experiences
2:39
and also just kind of in general why?
2:43
It's an interesting topic, but yeah, I'm gonna firstly, I'm
2:49
going to quote, a lot of things in this, I hope you don't mind
2:53
but I will be commenting on everything and what not and I
2:57
did a lot of research I did use. Wikipedia, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
3:02
I know it's cardinal sin, but it's a very useful resource.
3:06
And everything comes from a source.
3:08
That's the thing that you can fact check all of this.
3:11
There's actual sources available, and what not, it's
3:13
not just been edited by some 10 year old, you know, it's
3:15
actually legit. And if it is wrong, I will hold
3:19
my hands up and say, hey, I told you it was Wikipedia, but
3:23
generally, I found that scientific pages and
3:26
psychological pages and whatnot tend to be foolproof.
3:29
I mean, I'm sure there will be many, that will disagree with me
3:32
on that. But in my experience, those ones
3:34
tend to be more closely taken care of.
3:38
Whereas, if it's a Wikipedia page about some celebrity or
3:41
something, then expect it to be fraught with just nonsense
3:45
because it is written despite someone whereas these ones are
3:49
often from what I understand contributed to, by actual
3:53
scientists or people studying those fields and whatnot, but
3:57
it's just something to keep in mind, you know, The PDF page is
4:01
obviously written by someone group of people, whatever.
4:05
So there might be inaccuracies in this, so it's just something
4:10
to bear in mind. But, you know, I mean, this
4:11
isn't like some big political discourse.
4:14
A political. This isn't some scientific.
4:17
It's not political, but this isn't like some scientific kind
4:20
of podcast. It's me kind of introducing some
4:24
new Concepts that maybe you've never heard of, and kind of just
4:29
giving my thoughts, On it. And who knows?
4:31
Maybe we'll do follow-ups. I'm more than happy for you to
4:35
suggest future topics for me to delve into, as I explore doing
4:40
discussion-based episodes because I feel like this is a
4:43
whole new area for me. It also helps me with those
4:47
situations where I have no shows because I had one recently, and
4:52
I was going to do a follow-up episode, follow-up episode.
4:56
Sorry I'm mincing. My words here.
4:58
I was going to do. Discussion-based episodes as a
5:02
replacement, but I decided to have sort of a week off from the
5:07
podcast and because sometimes I like to do that, you know, just
5:10
kind of give it some breathing space.
5:12
I saw that the last episode didn't get as many views which
5:16
is a shame because I thought it was very good and that my guess
5:19
was excellent. But you know, I think there's
5:24
maybe a cool for me to push this podcast further, you know, it's
5:29
not just Tough to just interview people, I need to also
5:32
demonstrate that I can sort of produce something on my own and
5:37
it's an area that I'm always working on because I don't think
5:40
it's as good. I think I've had some exceptions
5:44
where there's episodes that I'm proud of that.
5:45
We're just me but I need to step up my game and this is me trying
5:50
to do that. So I hope that you enjoy this
5:53
episode and get something out of it and I hope that you enjoy the
5:58
idea of having more discussion based, Episodes.
6:01
And yeah, so let's get on with it, shall we?
6:04
According to Wikipedia multi potentiality is an educational
6:09
and psychological term referring to the ability and preference of
6:12
a person, particularly one of strong intellectual or artistic
6:17
curiosity to excel in two or more different fields.
6:21
It can also refer to an individual whose interests span
6:24
multiple fields or areas rather than being strong in just one.
6:29
Such traits are called multi potentiality these, but it's
6:33
also suggested as a term for people who have these traits by
6:37
contrast, those whose interests lie mostly within a single field
6:42
Accord Specialists. Now, there is a bit of a sort of
6:46
a debate online about this which will delve into further as we
6:51
get through the episode. But in a basic sense, it's kind
6:54
of like multi potential lists versus Specialists, not like two
6:58
opposing forces. Do anything but traditionally
7:03
being a specialist within your field at least in the last
7:06
couple of hundred years has been seen as a very kind of important
7:11
thing to have. And, you know, from what sort of
7:13
read into in the past day, it would appear that we are in the
7:18
age of the Specialists. And before that was the age of
7:23
the renaissance man, which will go into later on this idea of
7:27
someone who is multi-disciplined and has knowledge.
7:29
In various areas and from what I understand in the Renaissance
7:34
period between sort of 14th century to 17th century.
7:37
It was expected for people to be skilled in a range of different
7:42
areas like that was the expectation of people.
7:45
So if you didn't meet that then you know you're not fitting the
7:49
criteria. I guess of a well-rounded person
7:52
or for that particular period, you don't sort of cut the
7:56
mustard so to speak then if that's the right use of that.
8:00
But haven't used it in a while, whereas now, and certainly in
8:04
the last couple of hundred years, what was the Industrial
8:07
Revolution and what not being skilled in a particular area is
8:11
invaluable and was and was the the focal point, you know, in
8:15
schooling we have, you know, anything ranging from being
8:21
asked when you're between the ages of 3 to 5 years, like, you
8:24
know, what do you want to do with your life, which is a
8:26
theme, that Emily weapon, it kind of comments on in her, TED
8:29
Talk. Look, which is this idea that,
8:31
you know, we're kind of put into a box from a young age, we're
8:34
told this is what you can be. You need to pick one thing.
8:38
This is what you can be, whereas when it comes to, you know, the
8:46
actuality of that in in life, you're often required to do many
8:51
different things in, you know, different feels like for
8:54
instance, if you're a bartender, you're not just serving drinks.
8:57
You're also, you know, a psychologist.
9:00
Or you're expected to be a good listener.
9:02
Give advice. You know that's a that's another
9:04
thing that I mean some places might give you training and that
9:08
I suppose they might tell you like hey you can expect this but
9:12
I think most bartenders you know, when they're when they're
9:14
taught certainly how to do the position.
9:17
It's just focusing on how to make the drinks and, you know
9:21
how to deal with the pressure of customer service.
9:24
But that's just a small example of, you know, where you're told,
9:28
you need to focus on one thing. Thing, but then the actuality of
9:31
the position is very different and this is a theme that I've
9:34
seen again and again in business and different roles that I've
9:37
looked into and what not. And as I say, we'll get into
9:40
that a bit later. So that's a bit of an idea of
9:42
what multi potentiality is now Polly methi is.
9:46
Or this is what Wikipedia again says, a polymath is an
9:51
individual, whose knowledge spans a substantial number of
9:54
subjects and is known to draw a complex body of knowledge to
9:59
solve. Specific problems.
10:02
Now, from what I understand based on what I've read, the key
10:08
difference, I suppose between a multipotentialite and a
10:14
Polymath. And then he messed up, is that?
10:20
I multipotentialite if the clue is in the name it they have
10:23
potential to be brilliant. In several areas where as a
10:30
polymath is an expert within those different fields.
10:34
I think many of us probably fall into the multipotentialite
10:37
character category because will more than likely have one thing
10:43
that we're focusing on. And then everything else is kind
10:45
of like a light hobby for us or other we might even Be something
10:49
that we put equal amount of effort into, but it's not the,
10:52
the driving force, because as I mentioned before school and
10:57
Society has pushed Us in the age of being of specialism to be
11:03
within that one field, you know, like you you can't you're almost
11:08
told a lot of the time not to focus on anything else.
11:10
Like I've been told that I've had people tell me oh you should
11:13
only focus on this you know your interests and Goals are too
11:20
broad and part of the reason why I'm doing this episode is
11:24
because I want to kind of demonstrate that being a
11:27
multipotentialite or a polymath is firstly, a possibility.
11:32
It's something that many people are and it's a category that
11:35
they fit within and it's certainly something that I feel
11:40
is a part of who I am and I've had many people over the years,
11:44
tell me that, you know, I lack Focus or you know my Head is in
11:49
the clouds or, you know, I'm just not focusing on the right
11:51
things and I totally disagree. I think that It depends on your
11:59
mindset, like what you want from life, if you are happy doing one
12:02
thing and that's all you want to do then, that's great.
12:05
You know you're a specialist and that's what you like to do.
12:08
And there's nothing wrong with that, by the way, but if you're
12:11
multipotentialite or a polymath, it kind of means that you're not
12:17
happy. Doing the one thing you need to
12:19
do a lot of different things in order to be happy.
12:22
And that's kind of the point, I guess.
12:24
I'm trying to drive out with, with doing this particular
12:26
episode. The it's okay, if you only want
12:31
to do one thing and it's also, okay, if you want to do many
12:34
things for instance, just with me, I am a musician.
12:40
I am an aspiring actor. I am an aspiring voice.
12:43
Actor. A podcaster content, creator,
12:47
poet. You know, there's a lot of
12:49
different things that I do that. I love to do that are part of
12:53
me. And that I put an equal amount
12:55
of effort into, but they're all very be different.
12:59
But one thing I've kind of discovered and I discovered this
13:01
when I started acting because acting has come into my life
13:04
quite late. It came in 2019 and you know,
13:08
I'd never done, like school stuff.
13:10
But I've never really actually acted before.
13:13
And as soon as I did it, I loved it and I realized it felt the
13:18
same as performing on stage in a band.
13:21
You know, is the same sort of feeling and I sort of started to
13:25
realize then and now I fully realize this That if you're a
13:30
multipotentialites or a polymath or even just a creative in
13:35
general, chances are you're going to be skilled in a number
13:39
of different areas. So for example, you know, you
13:44
might be an artist but you might also be a musician and a writer,
13:49
there are very famous examples of polymaths and
13:53
multipotentialites, such as Sir, Isaac Newton, Benjamin,
13:57
Franklin, Thomas Jefferson. And if you look into their bios,
14:02
you know, they did a lot of different things and they
14:04
excelled in all those different areas and going back to the
14:07
difference between multipotentialite and polymath
14:10
with polymaths. Essentially, what is being said
14:14
is that they actually excelled in those areas.
14:17
In all those different areas, they excelled, they became
14:20
experts within those fields was multipotentialites again, it's
14:25
the potential to do. So it's not Early, a definite
14:29
thing. It's kind of saying to you, you
14:30
know what, this is a possible thing for you and it's a
14:35
community as well. This is one of the themes that
14:37
Emily Webb, Nick actually comments on that.
14:40
There's this whole Community around the world who fit into
14:44
this category or community of multipotentialites.
14:48
And this is kind of a really positive thing because they're
14:53
all kind of demonstrating that You're not, you're not alone in
14:59
this. You know, it's not a bad thing.
15:00
It doesn't matter if your parents or school told you, you
15:04
know, that you're focused on too many things and you have to pick
15:08
one thing they were wrong. You know, you can be successful
15:11
in a range of different areas. I mean for instance in my life,
15:15
I do I do sales, I do recruitment, I do marketing, I
15:20
do this online stuff, you know, I do a lot of different things
15:23
and I love doing all of those different things.
15:26
I like the differences between In them, but I also like the
15:29
fact that there's this kind of Common Thread between all of
15:31
them, even in sales and marketing.
15:33
I find myself being creative and so it's like a Common Thread
15:37
between all of those different fields, but it's also trying to
15:42
master those fields to. But anyway, I digress.
15:45
So, let's explore a few more quotes relating to multi
15:51
potentiality in 1972 RH frederiksen etal Define And and
15:58
multipotentialite, multi potential person as someone who
16:03
provides or has proved a start again in 1972, RH frederiksen
16:08
etal defined a multi potential person as someone who proved
16:15
with appropriate environments. They can select and develop a
16:19
number of competencies to a high level in 2008.
16:24
Douglas hannay referred to multiple Reality as excelling in
16:29
multiple fields of energy in 2010.
16:35
Tamarind Fisher defined multi potentiality as being the state
16:39
of having many exceptional talents, any one or more of
16:44
which could make for a great career for that person.
16:47
And I've mentioned Emily Webb Nick, a few times but she
16:50
coined, the term multipotentialite in 2015.
16:55
I believe for the first time within her.
16:57
Ted Talk, although she might have done it earlier and she
17:00
said a multipotentialite is a person who has many different
17:03
interests and creative Pursuits in life multipotentialites.
17:08
Have no one true calling the way that Specialists do being a
17:13
multipotentialite is our destiny.
17:16
We have many paths and we pursue all of them either sequentially
17:20
or simultaneously or both multi potential assists for.
17:25
I've on learning explaining it. Flooring and mastering new
17:28
skills. We are excellent at bringing
17:31
disparate ideas together and creative ways.
17:34
This makes us incredible innovators and problem-solvers.
17:38
When it comes to new interests that are merge or insatiable
17:42
curiosity, leads us to absorb everything we can get our hands
17:45
on as a result, we pick up new skills fast and tend to be a
17:50
wealth of information. I've made a few mistakes in the
17:53
reading of this. But I just I just got really
17:55
excited about this topic. mostly, because It applies to me
18:02
and I finally feel like it's not just me.
18:05
I actually, you know, I do my, it might sound silly sometimes,
18:10
but I think a big part of life is identity, as an it, it's
18:15
exploring who you are, what you are.
18:17
And when you have finally understood who you are, there is
18:22
a sense of Freedom involved with that and a sense of contentment
18:26
and happiness. And it made me so happy when I
18:28
discovered this When this, when this friend of mine referred me
18:33
to this, I was like, oh my God, I'm not a freak.
18:37
I'm not, you know, someone who just has either no loads of
18:43
energy but you know not enough Focus because I feel very
18:46
focused on all these different things and this is another thing
18:51
as well. Emily wet, Nick discussed the
18:54
idea that multi potential lists tend to go all in on a
18:57
particular thing before moving onto the next thing.
19:00
She discusses this idea that it's quite often the case that
19:03
multiple tension lights will get bored with a thing.
19:05
So maybe you learn the piano. You feel like you've mastered
19:08
the piano, or you've done a lot on there.
19:10
You get bored. And you want to move on.
19:12
Whereas, I have sort of a different feeling about that
19:16
because I find myself juggling many different things at once,
19:19
but also wanting to be the best within everything that I do and
19:24
I don't want to stop doing those things.
19:26
You know, instead what I tend to do is shift gears.
19:29
Is focus on one thing and then move to the next thing.
19:32
But never abandoned thing before, I keep it ticking over.
19:37
So, you know, sometimes I go for about of recently, for instance,
19:40
I've written a bunch of songs and then they'll probably be a
19:44
period where I just don't write some music for a while because
19:46
I'm focusing on other things, but I won't abandon music.
19:49
I'll just come back to it because I go on my feeling like
19:53
I'm feeling doing a podcast right now.
19:55
I'm feeling writing a song right now.
19:56
Hmm, I've got an idea for an acting scared.
19:59
You know? like, The way I've understood
20:03
creativity over the years is that they are at least in my
20:06
perspective. Is that these ideas come to me.
20:09
And when I feel, okay, I can turn this into something.
20:13
I do it. So I'm reacting on feeling and
20:19
these this idea that the idea has been gifted to me as opposed
20:22
to, you know, like I'm trying to sit down and force an idea and
20:26
that's something when I was a teenager, I didn't really get
20:28
the idea of being creative, you know, I always used to find it
20:31
difficult. Felt like anything that I
20:33
created was just rubbish, you know, like, I remember setting
20:37
up a YouTube channel back in 2013 and I didn't upload.
20:43
Yeah, I tried a couple of videos that were popular at a time but
20:46
it just wasn't me, but that's besides the point.
20:48
Like, I just didn't have any ideas, I had nothing to
20:51
contribute other than music and even if you go on my YouTube
20:56
channel to this day in my main, my main account, you can find
20:58
all those old YouTube videos on there from that time.
21:02
Because those videos I was proud of because that was me and still
21:06
is, but I deleted all the other stuff because it wasn't me and
21:12
it just wasn't. Creative.
21:15
In any way it was. It wasn't in the, in the way
21:18
that I'm creative. Now, I had to sit down and force
21:21
myself to try and come up with an idea, or I do like a crappy
21:25
version of something that someone else has already done.
21:27
Whereas now, I wait for ideas to materialize and then I create.
21:31
So for example, I don't constantly post poetry, I'll
21:35
post it once in a while and that's normally because I'll
21:37
just have a few ideas and I'll just turn it into something same
21:41
with music. But going back to the Emily Webb
21:46
Nick. And that point I was making
21:48
before, I just kind of feel like maybe there are different groups
21:54
even within the multipotentialite, a, or
21:57
polymath he's sphere. And this is actually something
22:00
that's explored in Academia as well from what I've read.
22:05
There's many academics to have suggested that there's like two
22:08
different types of people within these fields.
22:13
It's that kind of refers to the level of how committed they are
22:19
to things. So there's some people that like
22:21
me that are kind of obsessive Workaholics that are just
22:25
obsessed with being the best in every single area.
22:28
And then there's other people that have like a novel interest
22:31
in all those areas. But don't necessarily want to
22:33
commit to one thing they want to kind of explore, explore a lot
22:37
of different things and have like more of a varied life.
22:40
So I guess it's the difference between someone who's looking
22:43
more for experiences and having fun versus someone who's doing
22:46
it all for work purposes, but does love those things.
22:50
And I think that makes a bit more sense as well because no
22:54
two coins are the same. You know what I mean?
22:56
Like, it's you're going to have different types of people and
23:01
and even if you do come up with a term that's the sort of
23:04
generalized, it can never fully be applicable to everyone
23:07
because we're all different, you know?
23:10
So anyway, let's explore a little bit.
23:13
About Polly methi. So, in 1603 Johann Von well,
23:18
one, I think that's how you say his name, defined polarity, as
23:22
knowledge of various Mass matters, drawn from all kinds of
23:29
studies, ranging freely. Through all of the fields of the
23:33
disciplines as far as the human mind with unbeli read industry.
23:41
And is able to pursue them. I've just I've just completely
23:44
destroyed that a van eyck, unwearied industry industry.
23:48
My apologies from here, develop the idea of the Renaissance,
23:52
Man, something that I commented on earlier A Gifted person who
23:56
sought to develop their abilities in all areas of
23:59
accomplishment, and intellectual, and artistic
24:02
person, social physical and spiritual during the Renaissance
24:08
age, a gentleman or courtier was To be able to speak several
24:12
languages play, a musical instrument write, poetry, and so
24:16
on. Now, I covered that before, but
24:20
this particular part is very interesting to me, the idea of a
24:24
universal education was gifted to this idea of achieving
24:30
polymath ability. Hence, the word university was
24:34
used to describe a seat of learning, so the clue is in the
24:37
name there. However, the Original Latin word
24:41
university us refers in general to a number of persons
24:45
Associated into one body, a society, a company Community,
24:51
Guild Corporation, Etc. At this time, during the
24:55
Renaissance universities did not specialize in specific areas but
24:59
rather train students in a broad array of science philosophy and
25:03
Theology and this Universal education gave them a grounding
25:08
from which they could then continue into apprenticeships.
25:11
Towards becoming a master of a specific field.
25:13
This is something that we've lost this is this is big this.
25:17
I mean you can make the argument that in University in certain
25:22
Fields they try to get still give you a broad range of of,
25:27
you know, knowledge. I mean I know they try to do
25:29
that a little bit in my business degree but ultimately you come
25:33
away of a special ISM, that's the point.
25:35
When you take that specialism and you go, you go get a job
25:38
with it or you pursue Academia. And, you know, you go down that
25:42
route but you're still specialize in.
25:44
You're still looking at a particular area and the problem
25:49
was school at least in the UK is that, you know, it is varied and
25:54
I suppose polymathic in in InDesign because it's given you
26:00
all these different areas and same to you, okay.
26:04
You need to learn about all these things and then but they
26:08
but they force you to check. This is the thing.
26:10
They force you to choose. I know it's partly by Design,
26:13
you know, it's because of the fact that you need to choose
26:16
subjects. You can't study everything but
26:19
then it makes you think like, why not, you know, GCSE level in
26:22
here in the UK you have to pick like Cody's back when I was at
26:25
school. Like three or four gcses
26:27
whatever and you just lost it was a bunch of things that I
26:29
would have loved to have continued studying but I don't
26:34
know. We just won't allow to maybe
26:35
there's not enough time in the day and that's a big failing.
26:40
I think of citee not only is it built into the system not
26:45
University story. Well, yeah, University and
26:47
schooling it's not only is it built into the structure of
26:51
Education that you need to choose and focus on one thing.
26:57
But also You're told from a young age that you need to pick
27:01
something or you're kind of pushed into to focusing on one
27:05
area and that is something that I think would be great for us to
27:11
return to. It seems like during the
27:13
Renaissance error. It was a completely different
27:17
mindset back then, you know, there was this expectation to be
27:22
educated in a range of different areas and I still think that
27:29
that's important. I don't know.
27:33
Based on what I've read and like how I see Society going at the
27:36
moment, this idea of multi potentiality and Plymouth e
27:41
seems like it's re-emerging particularly in the business
27:45
world. I mean we can make a case for
27:47
modern businesses demanding multi potentiality is and
27:50
polymaths. I mean some job roles in the job
27:54
markets, require you to be skilled in a range of different
27:57
areas. For example, I looked up a roll
27:59
today, which was just the basic copywriter role and it said, you
28:04
will be required to support departments, including social
28:07
media, SEO, and PR now that's very normal.
28:11
But I can tell you from my experience working in marketing,
28:14
what that will mean is, you will start with one thing and you'll
28:17
end up doing a bunch of other different jobs that have nothing
28:20
to do with what you do. Now, you can make the argument
28:24
that you need to be multi skilled in a mall and in a
28:27
multitude of areas in order to be Valuable to the company but I
28:34
mean SEO can be its own thing. You know you can have people
28:37
that only do SEO and I've worked in companies where you know I
28:41
would only focus on copywriting. You have the SEO team that
28:44
focused on SEO the ads team that focused on Google ads, Facebook
28:49
ads team. You know, like it depends how
28:51
the company structured, and some companies choose to split these
28:55
things. Some companies choose to put
28:57
everything together like sales and marketing is linked
29:00
together. Sometimes, so that is a big
29:02
aspect of it, but when you look at Job adverts online, you'll
29:07
often find that they're looking for the impossible person, a
29:12
person that has, you know, 10, 15 years experience, or less, or
29:17
maybe three to five years experience.
29:19
And they've got seemingly experience in every single area
29:23
and it's often ridiculous and impossible to be able to get all
29:27
of that, you know, experience. And Any people that would have
29:31
that experience would be managers not entry level people,
29:35
but that's a whole other conversation right there.
29:38
And also I mean it's the argument, isn't it?
29:43
Especially as in versus multi potentiality of Plymouth e?
29:47
What is better? What is more?
29:49
Useful, someone who has is an expert in one area or someone
29:55
who, you know, is skilled in many different areas.
29:59
Now, I'm sure you've all heard of the, the old aphorism jack of
30:03
all trades, master of none. That's where the - negativity
30:08
towards Plymouth e and multi potentiality comes, or at least
30:11
historically. Because there's this idea that
30:14
if you're skilled in a bunch of areas you lack Focus, you lack
30:17
Direction. I mean, I'm sure that's why
30:19
people older than me in family and friends and whatnot have
30:23
said to me over the years old, you know, you lack Focus because
30:26
there's a concern that if you are skilled in a multitude of
30:30
areas or you are focused on a lot of different things.
30:33
You know you're going to lose out because you don't have that
30:36
one thing. You know you you're you're not
30:40
focused enough so you will lose focus.
30:42
Because whenever you try to do things and I absolutely
30:45
disagree. I think it's the case of kind of
30:48
going all in on something and juggling things, you know, I
30:52
think it's possible to multitask.
30:56
But there will always be a point where you need to kind of put
30:59
100% focus on one thing. And there's not much room to
31:04
budge sometimes, you know, like right now I'll go all-in on this
31:09
podcast. I'll finish it.
31:12
Edit it or promote it. You know, that's a whole
31:14
process. That takes many hours sometimes,
31:16
it can get take more than a couple of days.
31:19
And so, my main focus will be that thing.
31:21
I might try to find time, elsewhere, to do other things,
31:25
but ultimately, this is going to be dominating my time.
31:29
Now, one interesting quote that I read relating to this idea of
31:37
maybe we could call it like a neo-renaissance movement, or
31:42
Something neo-renaissance, man, but perhaps but an academic
31:46
called Jake, Chapman stated that in the modern world where a way
31:52
common job might require someone to be a social media experts,
31:56
public speaker, and writer and the data analyst, the polymath
32:01
winds, and the deep subject matter, expert is relegated to a
32:06
back corner to be used as a resource for others as an
32:11
investor. We're going to pick the perfect
32:13
team. It would be a group of Rockstar
32:15
polymaths with a single subject matter expert.
32:18
As a resource, I've seen this in certain places that I've worked
32:22
over the years, where not being skilled, in a range of areas is
32:29
seen as a negative and you're not seen as As useful, I
32:35
suppose. You know, it's strange to me
32:38
that someone who has kind of Expert knowledge in a particular
32:44
area with ever be. Yeah, considered not useful
32:48
enough for not valuable enough to detain, but at the same time,
32:52
they are, you know, they're they're equally as invaluable.
32:55
You need people in your team that can do a range of different
32:58
things and sort of fill the gaps so to speak.
33:01
But you also need people who are, you know, experts in one
33:08
particular area because while you might be able to be a
33:12
polymath in theory, It still takes a tremendous amount of
33:17
time to do so, and even then, I doubt you could be a polymath in
33:23
like loads and loads and loads of fields maybe like four or
33:26
five Fields, you know, not a completely different.
33:29
I mean, I suppose it depends depends on your intellectual
33:31
level. Depends on how quickly you can
33:34
learn and such. But, you know, there's only so
33:36
much time in the day and Is there's a lot of shifting into
33:40
that is adaptability, that is involved with that and I don't
33:44
know that it's always possible, but as I mentioned earlier, you
33:49
know, there are classic examples of famous people who have been
33:53
successful polymaths and have also been criticized within
33:57
their own ages for being, so for lacking, focus and whatnot.
34:02
So this idea I suppose of specialism versus multi
34:05
potentiality has always really exist.
34:08
Third and probably always will and will likely go through three
34:12
different ages of this. But I want to read some more
34:14
information that I've found today.
34:18
Isis Jade makes a clear distinction between multi
34:21
potentiality and polymaths. She states that multi
34:24
potentiality refers, simply to one's potential in multiple
34:28
Fields. I'm going to his or her diverse
34:30
interests and attempts polymaths.
34:33
On the other hand are distinguished by their Mastery
34:36
and expertise in several fields. In this sense, multiple
34:40
potential lights can be viewed as potential polymaths.
34:43
Now, I explained this earlier, but I wanted to just kind of
34:45
read you that quote, because that was where it clicked for me
34:49
that I needed to do an episode that the covers both cuz When I
34:55
look at the idea of a multipotentialite and I look at
34:58
like, Emily WEP, Nick's example of it, you know, she gave an
35:03
example of a guy who was a scientist but also a violinist
35:08
and, you know, in that sense, he's likely an expert in his
35:13
scientific field and just very very good in his field of being
35:19
a musician but whether or not he's an expert in both of those
35:22
fields is Up For Debate. If he was an expert in both of
35:27
those fields, he would fit more into the polymath category then
35:30
he would multipotentialite. And I think arguably
35:34
multipotentialite is a term that could be used to just refer to
35:37
those people who maybe have like a novel interest in those areas
35:42
or are very good, very skilled in a lot of different areas but
35:45
not necessarily experts, as I say it's Up For Debate as
35:50
regards to terminology for multi.
35:52
Potential is MM, there are other Terms used to refer to multiple
35:56
Sensor Lights such as scanners slashes generalists multi, I
36:01
love that one though. Generalists kind of a bit like
36:05
it's not quite expert, it's not always a generalist, there's a
36:09
little bit in these areas it, general knowledge multi
36:13
passionate rp2. I don't know what that is and
36:15
multi pots, whereas polymaths are more classically known as
36:20
Renaissance men and there's a few other examples that I just
36:24
Explore a little bit on this idea of polymaths because I
36:29
found there was a lot more to go into with Paloma fee because
36:35
multi potential is, MM. Seems like a relatively new idea
36:39
sort of like 21st century idea or 20th century idea of my
36:43
apologies because it was originally sort of explored in
36:46
1972. I'm sure there might, there
36:48
might be some other examples of that, but let me see, as I say
36:52
in the Western World dates back to the 1600s Yes, and that's a
36:55
key thing. The first sentence I found
36:58
online regarding it said in the Western World so it kind of
37:01
almost implies that elsewhere. This term might have been
37:04
explored and it might have been around for much longer than that
37:10
Peter Burke. Ones that in the age of
37:15
specialization which is what we're in now. / limit
37:18
polymathic, people are more necessary than ever both for
37:22
symphysis to paint the picture and for analysis.
37:25
And this is what I was covering earlier.
37:27
People that fill in the gaps within a team.
37:30
He says that it takes a polymath to mind the gap and Drew
37:33
attention to the knowledge. That may otherwise disappear
37:36
into the spaces between disciplines as they are
37:39
currently defined an organized. I really wanted to get At this
37:42
quote, in this, in this episode because there's been many cases
37:46
where I've noticed in group situations, particularly when I
37:49
was at University, where if you have a person that is
37:52
multi-disciplined or has knowledge in a lot of different
37:55
areas, they can bring you ideas that you'd never thought of.
37:59
Yes, you might be an expert in one field.
38:01
But if you're only an expert in one field and you don't know
38:04
about the knowledge that is relevant to you from other
38:08
disciplines, That can better help you to understand your
38:12
field or help you to kind of expand your mind.
38:14
Then you're kind of, its kind of like narrow-minded, you're
38:17
missing out, you're missing out on valuable knowledge and
38:20
information and particularly, when you're working in a group
38:22
dynamic, where, let's say, you have to work on a project that
38:26
draws inspiration or Knowledge from a range of different areas.
38:29
It's just not going to cut it. If you only have knowledge and
38:33
experience in one particular area, you know, it's useful and
38:36
you can be the kind of authority on that.
38:39
Particular aspect of the project but you're not going to be able
38:43
to fully contribute on a kind of generalized perspective because
38:49
you're kind of tunnel vision really.
38:54
And that's not to say that all Specialists are like that.
38:57
I don't believe that anyone is, I think like many things in
39:00
life, this is kind of more of a spectrum thing.
39:02
I think personally that we are all multipotentialites and that
39:08
we Choice between, or we often choose between being a multi
39:12
potential eye or a polymath or being a specialist, but I don't
39:16
think even specialist. I don't think they really fully
39:19
abandoned, the idea of it other field.
39:23
I mean, everyone has Hobbies, everyone has interests to know
39:26
me, even if you are like full-on mathematicians, scientists dr.
39:31
Whatever, right. You're still going to have
39:33
things that you like to do outside of that.
39:36
Some things that you might be really good at, maybe you're
39:38
really good at dancing. You No, completely different
39:40
field. But maybe you're really good at
39:42
that and that would mean that you'd fit more into
39:45
multipotentialite category. And I think that's where I kind
39:49
of disagree with this idea of everyone being well, they're
39:52
being you know Specialists who only focus on one area.
39:56
I think that's just the kind of thing that Society pushes on us
40:01
like that's the agenda not in a well maybe there's a political
40:05
agenda to it but I think that that's something that's been
40:08
pushed. Upon Us in this age and used to
40:11
be more relevant in the past. You know, when you worked in
40:15
factories in the Industrial Age, that would have been more kind
40:19
of, we're having a special ISM was key.
40:22
Whereas now, as I said earlier, the business World expects you
40:27
to be skilled in a range of areas, you just have to be, or
40:32
you won't get the job. And a lot of companies are not
40:35
willing to take the risk. On someone who doesn't have
40:37
everything. I mean, for instance, I I've
40:39
had, I remember I was unemployed for a year and a half and had so
40:45
many Paces. 10 me, I didn't have enough experience or you know,
40:49
enough skills and bear in mind, I had at the time for years
40:52
experience and I'd worked in a range of different fields, but
40:56
maybe let's say out of 10 Fields, I only had experience in
41:00
seven or eight of them but they're not willing to take the
41:02
risk on the final two. But how are you going to find
41:05
that person? Who has those five years
41:07
experience in all those different areas?
41:09
Is an expert in all those areas. You're not because they probably
41:12
already have a job and they're probably already a manager.
41:15
They're not going to be an entry level person again, I digress.
41:19
I made a point here in my notes that I think, perhaps in the
41:22
future we will all be multiple tension lights or polymaths.
41:25
But since sort of thinking on it, now, I think we already are
41:28
to be honest and perhaps the education system will adjust in
41:32
order to produce these sorts of people.
41:35
I honestly think that could be something that happens in the
41:38
future. I feel like my papers.
41:43
I feel like University will have to change to reflect that the
41:50
job market changes all the time. You know?
41:53
When I first went to University, you had to have a degree in the
41:57
UK had to have a degree. You just couldn't get most jobs
42:00
without a degree. Not you couldn't even get an
42:01
interview and then a couple of years in to my degree, I noticed
42:06
all these apprenticeships and internships and entry level.
42:09
Cropping up where you didn't need a degree or anything.
42:13
And by the time I finish my degree and years afterwards, it
42:17
quickly became apparent that a degree was no longer necessary.
42:20
It was more of an option. And to this day for most
42:24
disciplines, a University degree, is just an option and I
42:27
covered this a bit more in my University episodes.
42:30
Make sure you go check that out, but it's true like that.
42:35
It's just now it's a case of. Well, if you want you to
42:39
Diversity. Then you're probably going there
42:40
for the experience for the connections for things like
42:43
that. And I'm talking foremost, you
42:46
know, specialisms obviously it's different if you want to be a
42:48
doctor or a lawyer like you need to go to university and you need
42:51
to study for many many years after the fact.
42:53
Like that's that's where those particular Fields will never
42:57
change because you have to do that to acquire the knowledge
43:01
necessary to do those. Those things, when it comes to
43:05
things that business, let's say, theater art, these kind of
43:09
Areas, you can teach yourself, you can teach yourself online.
43:12
You can probably, I mean, I feel like in many ways you're just
43:15
paying for resources in those particular subjects, a
43:18
university that I could learn all of that stuff that I learned
43:21
at University in books, online journals, whatever you just
43:27
paying for resources. Sounds harsh, but it's true.
43:33
Will the education system change in that regard?
43:36
I mean, it's a big shift. I think you can make a case.
43:39
S4 it certainly at school level I think by Nature.
43:42
You they'll always be a system in place that teaches you many
43:45
different things but whether or not they'll push you to actually
43:50
be a meant multipotentialite or be a polymath is another case.
43:54
I mean, I can see a case being made for that for University
43:58
because Anyone the focus of your University, they will prepare
44:05
you to an extent for the job markets, but it depends on the
44:08
agenda of your University. Like mine was a research-based
44:11
uni. So they want to push you into
44:13
doing Academia because from a business standpoint, that's what
44:16
they're going to make money out of by you doing Academia.
44:20
They never really my uni, never really helped people going into
44:23
the world of work. There were schemes available to
44:27
help you with that and whatnot, but And truthfully, they didn't
44:31
they didn't help at all. I got a lot from from my degree,
44:36
but I think the biggest things I got were the experience
44:39
connections that kind of thing, and the experiences, but as far
44:43
as actual knowledge, I learned how to do what I know how to do
44:47
now, from working, from being in Industry.
44:53
So I think maybe you could make a case for University change in
44:57
to adjust to a new age of Neo-renaissance man.
45:02
But we shall see. We shall see.
45:06
And I've got final kind of Point here from James C Kaufman and
45:12
I'm going to say a baguette. Oh, I can't pronounce his first
45:14
name. Proposed a typology of Plymouth
45:17
e and within that they outlined three main requirements
45:21
intelligence motivation, to be creative and an environment that
45:26
allows creative expression. Now, I think this environment
45:31
for Creative expression, requirement is arguably the most
45:34
important because you need resources in order to be able to
45:38
pursue your interests. And you also need people around
45:41
you, that will create an environment that will help you
45:44
to facilitate that when I got away from the people.
45:47
That told me, you know, you need to focus on one thing, you need
45:50
to do this, you need to do that and I started just trying lots
45:55
of different things and not being met with opposition.
45:59
I started to Why's that I could do all of those things happily
46:03
and successfully, and there's no kind of consequence of that.
46:08
The only thing you have to learn how to do is manage your time,
46:11
effectively in order to do all those things.
46:14
But that's what we're talking about here, not that you can't
46:17
do it, that you need to adjust and adapt to make it possible.
46:23
I think this Plymouth E versus specialization argument or multi
46:27
potentiality versus specialization argument is
46:31
always going to be an argument that exists in society because
46:40
There's like different requirements for different
46:42
people based on their upbringing where they're from you know,
46:47
culture is a big thing, some cultures require you to have a
46:52
special ISM that's that's what their culture expects of you
46:56
there's High demands expectations, placed upon you.
47:00
There's other cultures that don't do this, to try to Foster
47:04
People Who Can be anything they want to be, you know so I think
47:11
the environment that you grow up in is arguably the most
47:14
important aspect and certainly the people around you will
47:18
inevitably influence you you can build up strength over years and
47:22
this is something that I have done where you can be almost
47:26
impervious to criticism. You know that's trying to direct
47:32
you and tell you what to do and stop you from being Who You Are.
47:35
Our, but it's hard, if everyone around you is saying one thing
47:39
it's difficult not to listen to that, you know, even if it is
47:43
wrong and you know, in your heart that it's wrong, it's
47:45
difficult to fight that. But to bring it all kind of full
47:49
circle with this. When I heard Emily weapon, it
47:52
talked about this idea that there's a community of people
47:54
around the world who are multipotentialites, who are
47:58
polymaths I then realized I'm not alone and neither are you.
48:05
So I hope you enjoyed this episode.
48:08
As much as I did, I can happily do a pot polymath, a follow-up
48:14
episode to this. If you would like to learn more
48:17
or you'd like me to answer particular questions, more than
48:20
happy to do. So thank you so much for
48:23
listening to the Christian read podcast.
48:26
And until next time peace out one love.
48:28
See you in the next