I've been asked what I wanted to be when I grew up since before I can remember, probably 3 or 4. When I was little it was always teacher or maybe librarian (studious kid). When it was time to pick a college and a major, I just said business to make everyone quit asking, but I had no idea what majoring in business would do for me. In her TedTalk, Emilie Wapnick discusses how asking this question and having to pick one thing to be when you grow up can cause anxiety and a feeling of being wrong if you can't pick just one thing.

......But most kids don't hear about people like this. All they hear is that they're going to have to choose. But it's more than that. The notion of the narrowly focused life is highly romanticized in our culture. It's this idea of destiny or the one true calling, the idea that we each have one great thing we are meant to do during our time on this earth, and you need to figure out what that thing is and devote your life to it.

She defines people that have a lot of different subjects that they're curious about and that want to do many different things as a multipotentialite: a person with with many interests and creative pursuits. Multipotentialites have three super powers: idea synthesis, rapid learning, and adaptability.

As a society, we have a vested interest in encouraging multipotentialites to be themselves. We have a lot of complex, multidimensional problems in the world right now, and we need creative, out-of-the-box thinkers to tackle them.

But there is nothing wrong with specialists either. I love being a paralegal, and while I have other interests and hobbies, I know what I want to do is be a paralegal. But,  it's nice to know that there wasn't (or isn't) anything wrong with not knowing and wanting to do all sorts of things (i.e. travel, read, write, create, etc.)

...But we should all be designing lives and careers that are aligned with how we're wired....embrace your inner wiring....embrace your many passions. Follow your curiosity down those rabbit holes. Explore your intersections. Embracing our inner wiring leads to a happier, more authentic life. And perhaps more importantly -- multipotentialites, the world needs us.