Ever since I first came across Puttylike, I’ve loved that the fact that I’m interested in pretty much everything. Dog training? That could be cool! Growing vegetables? Definitely doing that one day. Coding and programming? On my would-like-to-learn list.
I’ve also prided myself on the fact that I’ve been able to teach myself to do whatever I’ve wanted to do. One year I felt like designing some posters, so I taught myself basic graphic design. Another year I wanted to start a blog, so I found some tutorials. Easy.
So when I felt the urge to start a podcast earlier this year, I looked forward to collecting a whole new bunch of skills. As a virtual assistant, I love adding new skills to my portfolio. Audio editing would be a great addition.
Time to learn a new skill
I got busy scheduling interviews with guests and, before I knew it, I had almost twenty episodes in the can. It was time to figure out this audio editing business.
I opened up the software, pulled a file into it, and looked all the buttons staring at me. I had no idea what I was doing. But I’m a child of the internet, so I hopped on over to Google, YouTube, and a Facebook group for podcasters. Someone would be able to tell me what I needed to know.
But the more research I did, the more confused I became. What was compression? Did I need to normalize my tracks? How do you get rid of the fuzzy background noise? Not only did I not know how to do it, I also didn’t know what I needed to know how to do.
Not used to struggling with something new, I freaked out and went back to putting off the audio editing.
The problem
After feeling very uncomfortable about my apparent inability to pick up this new skill for a while, I realized what the problem was. I had zero interest in learning to edit audio.
Audio editing was something I wanted to be able to do, but only because I wanted to start a podcast. It was a means to an end. I had no interest in understand how audio works and what makes it sound good and bad.
But, because I’m proud of my multipotentiality, I was putting pressure on myself to enjoy the learning process. I assumed that, because I’m interested in a lot of things, I should be interested in everything. I was trying to force myself to like something I didn’t even want in my life.
This realization came as a shock. It felt like an attack on my identity. In my head, I was this multipassionate and multitalented person who could turn her hand to most things and enjoy them, and yet here I was, finding myself defeated by something I had no interest in.
What to do when you find something you have no interest in
Obviously finding out that you’re not interested in something is not the worst thing that can happen to a person. But if you do find yourself in this position and it feels uncomfortable, here’s my advice on how to handle what can feel like a bit of an identity crisis.
1) Find out what you came for
Multipotentialites get bored with interests when they get what they came for. If you’re bored by something before you’ve even started, the chances are that it doesn’t possess what you were looking for. Be honest with yourself about what you were hoping to get out of this interest, and go after that instead.
I was never interested in audio editing itself. I just wanted to start a podcast. It’s possible to start a podcast without learning to edit audio, so I could still get what I came for.
2) Find another way to get what you came for
If you can, drop whatever’s boring you and move onto something better. If you can’t just drop it, find a shortcut. Perhaps you could outsource it, delegate it, or recruit someone to teach you to do it quickly and painlessly.
Luckily, I’m a member of a community of talented and generous people with a wide range of skills. Fellow puttypeep Luis offered to give me a private training session to teach me only what I needed to know to put my podcast episodes together and nothing more. In less than an hour, I had the skills I needed to make my interviews sound acceptable.
3) Remind yourself of the things you do love
We have far too many interests and things to get excited about to waste our time on things that bore us. Putting your time and energy into something you’re not drawn to is a waste of your life. Remind yourself that it’s OK to not be interested in everything and pour yourself into the things that make you happy instead.
4) Accept the trade-off
Skipping over or rushing through something is never ideal, so allow yourself to come to terms with the fact that whatever you’re up to isn’t going to be perfect. Imperfect and happy is better than perfect and miserable, right?
While I do want to respect my listeners’ ears, I also have to respect myself. My lack of enthusiasm for audio editing came down to a toss up between having an imperfect podcast and not having a podcast at all. I know that if I had to spend hours each week editing my podcast, it wouldn’t be long before I quit. For me, it’s better to have an OK-sounding podcast than no podcast at all.
5) Remember you’re still a multipotentialite
Being a multipotentialite doesn’t mean you have to fall in love with or be good at every single thing. We’re multipotentialites, not all- or everything-potentialites.
And thank goodness! There’s not enough time for us to explore all the things we’re interested in as it is. Can you imagine if we were curious about every single detail of the world?
I think this is where I went wrong. I took a label that helped me to understand and explain myself and, instead of letting it give me the freedom to explore anything I wanted, I allowed it to define what I did. Remember, labels like “multipotentialite” work best when used as shorthands, not as prescriptions.
Getting over your identity crisis
Realizing that you genuinely have no interest in something can come as a bit of a shock for someone who’s used to being interested in everything. And it can make you question your identity for a moment.
But if this happens to you, remind yourself that your multipotentialite identity is about freedom, not constraint. Being this way opens you up to a whole world of possibilities and exciting paths to wander down. Don’t ever let it limit you.
There’s a whole world to explore out there. What are you waiting for?
Your Turn
Have you ever come across something you had absolutely no interest in? Did it bother you or teach you anything about yourself?
I came across this new identity(multipotentialite ) about a month or so ago when i watched a Ted Talk and believe me it was a relief of life time.I was having so many interests and people around me do say nice things to me or about my talents but all my life i was having this guilt in me that i can’t lead a normal life like all the others or sometimes it felt like a weakness i awas carrying.But i am still going through it,this year i designed hand bags made of tapestry material with decorated flaps or fronts with some hand sewn work and held an exhibition,and then knitted some woolen items then some poetry happened and also learned some basic Chinese language and now water color paintings and knitting and crocheting going on side by side and still manage thinking about some waist coat designs for ladies for a future exhibition.I forgot to mention i summer i designed and stiched some beautiful formal dresses for my grand daughter.I could never get success doing any job outside my home and that’s the reason i could not earn enough money but was lucky enough getting it from my siblings to sport my passion.My mind is always preoccupied and there is so much going on inside,i can’t explain it in words.I am interested in mind sciences and learned some skills to help myself getting some peace of mind at the end of the day.There is so much more i am interested in.
Such cool interests! I’m similar in that I get excited about lots of unrelated things. Though Emilie’s book (Renaissance Business) and coaching have helped me to spot to theme in there!
OMG! I could have written that! I am getting better and better at “not fitting in”! Please let me recommend a book I just listened to that was such a shot in the arm. “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert. We are “makers”…. We gotta make new things.
Haha. I downloaded that on Audible the other day!
I love this site! I no longer feel that I have to make excuses when I feel as though I’ve finished what I took the job for and want to move on to something new!
It’s great being able to be excited about new things without feeling guilty about leaving your old interests!
I’m another one who has suffered a lifetime of ridicule by my family for going from one thing to the next. This is wonderful news. At least it makes me feel like I am legitimate even though others may not feel that way. When someone gets a masters and then decides they want to do something else, I think that is great, but I know I’m one of the few who haven’t ridiculed them.
Welcome to Puttylike! We all feel exactly the same here!
I enjoy discovering things I’m NOT interested in! There are SO many things I am interested in and I’m constantly thinking if I’m making the right choices about what to spend my time doing and learning. Being able to say ‘Nope, that’s definitely not for me’ is great. Although I do find I’m interested in more and more things as I get older. I had little interest in history at school and now I’m fascinated by history. So I guess I can’t write anything off as I might become interested in it one day!
Yeah, for me it’s often ‘I’m not interested in this thing right now.’ I often find that a friend will have an interest and it won’t spark any interest in me for a year or two, but then I wish I’d talked to them more about it before!
I tend to jump from one “obsession” to another. When I become interested in something, I like to become immersed in it and learn everything I possibly can about it, but when there’s nothing that’s REALLY grabbing my attention, I start to become unmotivated in general until something else really “clicks” for me. When I do develop a new interest or return to an old one, I become motivated about everything (including stuff that isn’t directly connected to that interest), but I never know when it’ll happen :/
Specifically regarding this article – I feel like the same thing happens to me when I’d consider getting a job in a certain field and then realize I’d have to earn 5 other degrees that I have zero interest in, even though I know I’d be good at it… This is part of the reason why I’d like to start something unique on my own.
I do the same, but more with projects than hobbies. But I find that I end up with a pile-up of potential projects, so I feel like I need to rush through the one(s) I’m on so that I can get to the next ones!
There’s a slightly dangerous mindset in here. Yes, it is absolutely important to find things that you love, and figure out ways to make them happen. But skipping, shortcutting, or outsourcing everything that’s not interesting might do more harm than good, especially if you give up too quickly or easily.
I’ve done a lot of fantastic and fun things in my life, but even the best things have their boring or challenging parts. I’m a marine biologist (among many other things), and while the scuba diving is amazing, most of my job is actually sitting at a desk, reading dense papers, and coding and coding and coding.
Similar to podcasting, I made short films for a little while. I loved shooting them, I loved exploring new places, and I loved interviewing people, I even sometimes enjoyed finding the perfect cuts in editing process.
But, as someone who loves working with and being around other people, the part of the editing process that requires you to spend hours upon hours sitting by yourself, sometimes in a dark room, transcribing interviews, organizing files, cutting and recutting, adjusting color filters, and watching the same clips over and over and over and over again, can be arduous.
In the end, I created some films that I’m fairly proud of (though, as with most filmmakers, I can always see the little glitches that I’ve watched 50 times, and have plenty of critiques for how I could have done it better). But they wouldn’t have happened at all if it weren’t for the slog.
If mastery takes 10,000 hours, that probably means the first 1000 hours (at least) were pretty painful and/or dull.
So you have a great idea and you want to make it happen. Unless you’ve got the money or clout to make someone else to do the hard/boring work for you, you might have to slog a bit. But the more slogging you do, the sweeter the success when your hard work has made it happen.
I don’t think that it’s necessarily about wanting to completely skip uninteresting things, but that the years of specialized degrees, money, etc. would end up going to waste when a career that may have sounded alright at the time is of absolutely NO interest anymore (or worse, obsolete… which has happened to some people I know), or that the requirements have changed (which has happened to many people I know).
In the article, I don’t really think that the point is to skip everything that isn’t interesting, but that it’s okay to not be an expert on every single aspect of every single project, especially in the beginning — if you try to be the best at EVERYTHING at once, you might end up with nothing at all. And sometimes simplifying things at the beginning allows you to practice until it becomes a bit more natural… then you can work on the other parts you have trouble with.
In the case of needing extra degrees to reach something, I’ve lost count of the amount of times people I personally know have gotten multiple specialized degrees only to realize that they have completely lost interest in or even hate their field or that their years of schooling have already become obsolete in that field. It’s definitely not always the case, but it can be extremely frustrating.
Definitely. My point was that as someone who’s interested in a lot of things, it’s often not worth forcing yourself to be interested in something you’re not interested in. There are plenty of things that you do enjoy to choose from, so why waste your time on something you hate? I guess I mean more in a topic sense (writing versus skiing) rather than an aspect sense (outlining versus writing versus editing) or a level sense (learning to spell versus coming up with clever metaphors).
I agree. I guess this was written from my point of view, as someone who likes to try and who likes challenges. There’s no way I would have wanted to completely outsource my podcast editing right from the start. I feel like it’s important to develop a skill and to understand it before you hand it off to someone else. Plus, of course, overcoming obstacles is an essential life skill!
What you’re saying is kind of like how you can’t just be happy without unhappiness. And you can’t enjoy going down a slide without first climbing up the steps. You need both sides to appreciate each one. 🙂
Agreed that some times you HAVE to do the uninteresting things. As an environmental specialist who used to love policy (until I learned how to do it well) but now can’t stand it, it is still integral to the other aspects of my work. Being niche-specialized means that I can’t delegate it or otherwise pass it off, but I have to do it so that I can still participate in other projects I enjoy (and because no one else in my state does what I do). Sometimes I find using tools help… pomodoro timers, music or white noise, frequent breaks, taking extra notes just to keep my mind active, recruiting “back-up” people who will spur me on by offering up conversations and new thoughts on the topic, and keeping my purpose and end result steadily in mind all play their part in getting through a tough project. It’s way slower to get through it (and even harder to retain it) when I’m so bored with reading policy, but eventually I slog through, and then I can do the related things that are important to me. I’m sure eventually I won’t be doing this anymore, but it’s a necessity for now, and one that I have chosen, so I find a way.
I can so relate.
But turning 50 soon…being a multipotentialite has been most dissatisfying.
Nothing is ever completed. Many ideas and projects, and possible career paths.
At this age, although u know that u are more than ur career it is very frustrating never having been a specialist in anything. Jack of all trades etc..
Also the brain slows down a bit ..the endless possibilities run out.
I get that. I’d suggest reading lots more of the articles on Puttylike though. There’s a lot of good advice in there. 🙂
Bookkeeping, or as I once spelled it “bookeeping”. I have to use skills I learned during a brief stay in Economics school, which I dropped out of because I hate it. So it’s first on my list to outsource.
And I expect outsourcing things you don’t like is so much more satisfying when you’ve had a good go and know they’re things you’ll never love!
Yes, I expect it to be. I’m just hoping to find the funds to get it done by someone else. Next on the list is cleaning and laundry 🙂
it is too pathetic to be in something not interested , all the advise shown above I tried them intuitively for years but in vain
It is a pity I cannot outsource the subjects I dislike that are part of my studies! I can look back at the exam results to exactly see which ones i dislike too 🙂 They are always the hardest to study, and I have to find something that links in with what I find interesting, and keep reminding myself of that before I start.
Yeah, sucky things always come along with the good things, I guess! 🙂
Wow. Everything. About. Multipotentiality. Describes. Me. I discovered the TED talk about 6 weeks ago when I was on the final day of field experience for my teacher certification program. The teacher I was observing showed the video to the seniors in her HS English classes. I sat in the back of the room and cried. This was the moment I finally FOUND me. After 10 solid years in the field of education, a stint in business, too many jobs to mention — I had AGAIN paid money to obtain another piece of paper that “shows” what I know but does not say a single thing about how I truly feel. I am two classes away from certification. But I am NOT quitting this. I’ve come too far. If I end up doing something else with my life, then so be it. At least I won’t regret that I didn’t have the degree to actually “do” it (whatever IT may be)! I’ve got lots of paper; the Master’s in Liberal Studies is my favorite. I went and COMPLETED a degree in absolutely nothing. I am slowly coming to terms with it all. It is very difficult — I am 41 years old. It’s been said that not all who wander are lost … Seinfeld was essentially a show about nothing and it is still considered (by many) the litmus test for comedy.
Hi Liz,
I think I know how you feel. It is really hard to accept that we have already done and will continue to do many things with our lives unlike the ‘specialists’.
Unfortunately, currently I feel like a wanderer who is lost. I think I know what the ‘destination’ is but I have no idea how to get there.
The great thing about working in education is that you could do that anywhere in the world and have a huge variety of experiences. Earlier this year I did some teaching in Rio which I loved but don’t think I’d enjoy teaching here in England!
Good luck with everything x
Helen,
Thanks so much for commiserating! Perhaps I too, will find peace (eventually) in education. I hate to admit this, but high stakes testing have made education boring for me… but overseas… hmmmm.
A few weeks ago I was standing in front of a class of fifth graders (teaching ELA) when I realized that the passion is gone! In an instant I just knew that there had to be something better out there. I am a creative and without the opportunities to create I am sad; very sad. And so, this close to getting certified — I quit my job.
I’ve been temping and had the opportunity to work at a PR firm last week. Can you say DREAM JOB? However, they only needed me for one day. Every conversation I overheard sounded like a problem and I had solutions! It was validating … I truly felt like this is something I can do.
But alas, I am still unemployed. I know that confidence is something I need to work on. I could have put myself out there but I didn’t. It is just too scary. Sometimes I think I just need to rent a helicopter and dump resumes all over the downtown area — maybe I’ll get THE call…maybe someone else will see what remains a mystery to me!
Hi Liz,
I hope you are well. I was just wondering if you have followed up with the PR firm at all? I think the established method of job hunting of sending out CV’s (resumes in UK English!) might not work for people like us. And the great thing about temping somewhere, even if just for one day is meeting people who might be able to help in the job hunt. How about setting up a meeting with someone there and telling them your suggestions to their problems and asking them their advice on finding a role in that industry? The worst that can happen is that they’ll say “no, sorry, I’m busy”. Even if a conversation doesn’t lead to a job I bet it will be interesting to talk to them. Unfortunately we all have to do things that scare us and that is how we increase our confidence (I’m only currently learning this). I’m changing careers currently and signed up to go to a networking event, when it came to the evening I was so scared about meeting strangers, what would they think of me, how could I answer the ‘what do you do?’ question etc. etc. but it turned out to be a really interesting evening and I felt proud of myself for just going and walking up to people and starting a conversation.
All the best 🙂
Hello, Helen:
Thanks for your thoughts. I did think about contacting the PR firm. However, I am concerned about “soliciting” and don’t want to get in trouble with the placement agency. I think I will ask them for advice before I proceed.
After reading your post, I am definitely ready to lose some of the fear … it’s the only way something may happen.
Your encouragement is appreciated!
🙂 Welcome to the world of multipotentialites! There are so many of us and most of us have spent most of our lives feeling this way. You are not alone. 🙂
I have no interest actually repulsion to housechores… still need to earn a lot more money to afford a hausecleaner…
I am with you Artemisia.
My wife makes me do chores and I try to get out of them. We are moving into a great new place that has a washer and dryer in the apartment. So, maybe she can take over since she doesn’t have to walk to the scary laundry room. But, a maid would be nice.
Keih
Well maybe one day I’ll be able to outsource my audio editing and you’ll be able to hire a cleaner. 🙂
That would be sweet. They always say outsource things that would take you longer to do and things you really don’t want to do. Tim Ferris talks about that a lot.
I would audio requests from anyone on this list and their friends.
KK
What I have found is that when there are parts I am not interested in it is a major cause of procrastination until deadline time and I just have to figure things out. At a point I thought it was the deadline that then made the sucky things doable but it wasn’t.
It is that when I find something you have to learn I default to the prescribed way of learning. “Step 1: do this first; Step 2: bla bla bla …”when I normally learn by just digging onto whatever seems interesting, no matter how difficult it looks or where it fits into a process. So, as long as I keep learning things haphazardly, as I need them, rather than in a structured and step-wise way I tend not not get stuck on things I don’t want to do.
Unless of course somebody else tells me that I need to do it.
That is such a good point. I think that’s true of me too. I’m really not very good when I have to do things. Like, my best ideas come to me randomly, when I don’t need an idea. When I have to come up with one, it’ll be forced and not quite right. You’ve got me thinking now…
A perfect example comes to mind. I tried to start twitch streaming a little while back. I realized I had the same problem you described about audio editing with Photoshop. It seemed fun at first, but many of the tools went way over my head. I couldn’t get the picture/overlay the way I wanted and felt like I couldn’t continue anymore. I guess I thought I could do it all on my own. Not the case. Thanks Joanna!
🙂 It’s funny because your example is one I’ve had the opposite experience with! I wanted to learn some basic graphic design/illustration years ago, so I just taught myself. Love how we’re all so different!
I’m one of those who saw Emilie’s Ted Talk and was blown away to find a whole community of those weird like me! Just one of the benefits I have found from reading on this site is the ability to say “No.” I am known as multi-skilled and that leads to a lot of requests for assistance. I used to feel too guilty to deny them, even if I had “got what I came for,” lost interest in that subject and moved on. Now, instead of forcing myself to do things just because I can, I’m getting better at only doing those that I truly want to. I have learned to say, “Oh, I’m sorry but I’m not doing that anymore,” and point them toward whatever resources I had found when I was doing that.
Hey Kim,
I think weird is the new normal.
😉
Keith
Nice! I love that confidence often follows the realisation that this is what you are. 🙂
I embraced my weird when I was a kid. I guess everyone is catching up. I had to learn to fight to defend my stance.
KK
Hi Joanna,
many thanks for this. I’ve always been frustrated at myself when I get so far with something and then I just drop-off. I know that I’m a starter and not a finisher and embrace that as a strength.
But I do/did wish that with some things, I could just stick with it. “when you got what you came for” really resonated for me on many levels, including why my diet has plateaued. Understanding ‘why’ is so powerful for me.
But coming back to what Patrick the Marine Biologist said, some stuff just has to get done. As an adult-‘diagnosed'(? better word?)dyslexic, I’ve had a lifetime of struggling to do stuff I find really difficult and hide my failing. These days, I’ve stopped beating myself up about the stuff I can’t do and delegate or outsource it. And the difficult or boring I make do-able by doing it my own special way. It might take me longer, but it’s done!
I guess we just have to figure out the best way to do things by understanding ourselves and how we function. 🙂
So much of your article, as well as the comments, resonate with me. I’ve been trying to launch a website (I can’t even tell you for how long). I thought that finding a “user-friendly” platform (for someone like me with no coding or other technical skills) would be the answer, and I AM slogging through it.
But I have NO interest in the nuts and bolts; I just have great ideas of what I want it to look like, what I want to sell, the message I want to share, etc. So I’m trying what I always do, ie, digging in with an open mind, with determination, and just telling myself, “you’re intelligent, you can learn anything you set your mind to.” And, of course, the expected reward when some income is realized from it.
The frustration comes when my eyes glaze over and I get a sort of “brain fog”, to the point where, if I asked someone for help, I don’t even know what my questions are! This takes its toll on my self-esteem, and I become either,obsessed with the project every waking hour, ignoring everything else, or, totally shutting down and walking away from it. (I’ve done both these past few weeks!)
Anyway, I guess my point is, if I have the goal of sharing and selling all my creative/art products, I have to get through this process. I’m not wealthy, and I’m also a bit distrustful of getting professional assistance. (because when I speak to the techno-geeks, I am always SURE that they don’t “get me” at all, so it would be as hard to work with them as it would be to do it myself!). The goal of the site is to embrace my “multipod” and make and sell whatever interests me at the moment, so I am determined to get there.
In many areas, I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I really have to do it myself, and maybe enlist some help to manage later on. And, in every single one of my art skills, I am self-taught, like you, Joanna.
OK, I think I’ve just written myself a “pep-talk.” Thanks for listening, Multipods!
Haha! Glad you managed to give yourself a pep talk! I had the opposite experience with building a website. It’s one of those things that I really got into and had no trouble learning. Good luck! 🙂
What a well written article! I love the point you made that it’s better to be imperfect and happy than perfect and miserable. (I’m a recovering perfectionist.)
Definitely! Still easier to grasp intellectually than to believe emotionally though!
I’ve always had a dual(what is a triple interest twual?) interest in music, science and technology which is why I love Sci Fi so much. So, when my keyboards and other instruments started having multi-processors and interacting with computers via midi, I decided I needed to learn how to program. I even got some good paying jobs after I finished school and could fill in my income in between touring with bands. Be careful what you ask for I say. I started teaching while in between bands and working a day gig and eventually quit working and built up a substantial music services business and even ended up doing big tours with a band I created. I was making 5 figures a year doing this. Then, the internet and the web came into being. I dabbled with it for a while and then started booking myself and other bands with email and then Netscape came and I started to teach myself web design and dev. Eventually I started developing web sites for bands and music marketing companies. People from other industries started hiring me and my music business turned into a web business making way more money. Then American Express hired me and I started making 6 figures. Good bye music business for a while. Though making that kind of money, I was able to start building a computer based project studio and started recording as a solo artist. 10+ years later, I am still writing and recording, doing film scores and occasionally singing in bands or DJ’ing. I am working on building my music services business again but with so much more knowledge of marketing and way more easy access to everything. I work as a web developer for an adult company and come up just wanting to make music and not do web dev, but… My goal is to build a musical business and empire and leave the work a day world for good, so (and it took me a while) I have started to build my music business web site to create this place to build a label, publishing company, licensing company and musician’s training services hub.
I guess everything I have done has come full circle again.
Here’s the start of my web site and business. Still working on it.
http://kamakazemusic.net
Keith
Wow! Impressive story! Best of luck with everything. 🙂
Thanks Joanna,
It is a challenge because at this point, I am also the sole bread earner so I have to a 40 hour a week job and a relationship and wedge in business building. I finally had to stop creating music for a little bit to jump start building my online music business machine. I think I am caught up so I can finish prepping my new release and mix and master and re-release an old one.
Cheers
Keith
There’s a lot of things I’m not interested in. I’ve tried them – don’t like them – even though, often, I’m good at it – I just don’t like it especially when I find the subjects excessively used and useless such endless meetings which achieve little to nothing. A meeting is a good thing to accomplish something of importance but so many people use them today to get out of something else which would be far more useful and productive. Thus, the meetings are very boring and unsatisfying because there is no outcome of any sort except to say there will be another meeting to go over the same thing again and again and again.
I’m self-employed, so I don’t really have that problem, but I’ve definitely heard a lot of people complain about meetings. Maybe everyone needs to read The 4-Hour Work Week!
Now I know that the problem to be a multipotentialite could be because my energy is gone after a time and the reason of that is ” vampireS people ” what that means is, someone ” invade ” my aura and take my energy, of course I’m unaware of it , but it happens and there a lot people of course with this condition to have slave energetic , THINK ABOUT IT, COULD MADE YOU MORE EFFICIENT AND NO SO ERRATIC. Thank for the note.
You’re welcome. 🙂
In high school, in 1969, I took a computer science class because I was afraid that computers might take over the world so I decided to learn something about them… computers very new on the horizon. We learned “baby-basic” programming; had to print code on grid sheets; sent to our school board office which housed the one computer (the size of a room); key operators typed my code onto computer “cards” (4″ x 6″ card stock) and ran my program on the computer; cards and the results were sent back to me. This was a one-week process…
It didn’t take long before I became BORED!!!! I had learned enough to be assured that there always would have to be a human brain programming/directing the computer and they couldn’t run amok and take over the world (I am less assured of that now..) So, having learned what I needed to know, I dropped that class – with no regrets but with great relief!
Guess I was true to my MP nature, even at the age of 15!
I am 61 years old, and stopped counting the number of jobs/workplaces I have had once I got to a count of 30… and I have moved house that many times, as well (5 with my family-of-origin).
Learning acceptance of my nature is still a work in progress.
And now, the very thought of having to write software gives me the willies.
Haha! I’m in a similar position in that I want to learn to code because I figure it’s going to be as important a skill as writing in the future. But it’s just never a priority and it’s not particularly my sort of thing. I’m hoping I’ll suddenly become interested in it one day. But for now, I’ll stick with regular languages!
Joanna,
I love the way you were able to reframe your experience into a positive and actionable set of guidelines for others. Thanks for the insights!
🙂 I’m learning to be more positive in general, so I’m glad I managed it with this!
Nice article Jo. The what to do when you are not interested often gets lost in the things you want to do and you often end up feeling guilty about not like aspects of the work you do like. Really cool way of looking at it.
Glad you liked it!
Oh… Good one! I just went through this this week. All week I’ve been trying to get this project done. It was fun when I had done it for the first time so when my granddaughter said she wanted one for Christmas, I thought why not!?!? ? Really I wanted her to have it and imagine how thrilled to be able to choose her own colors! But I just procrastinated like crazy! Thing is, I am so excited about what I’m doing these days that I really didn’t want to do this thing that was … Well … Boring. I kept telling myself, “She will love it!” And she will and I do want her to have it…
So, last night I worked on a project I really am into and for several hours and then i put on a good audio book and got after this Christmas present.
And this more ing when I woke up, I found I was glad to have found a way… But reading your piece Jo helped me to realize that each and everyday I must nourish my own creative needs first… Then I’m in a better position to make the gift, do the laundry, get some groceries…and not white-knuckle thru so much resistance.
I wonder if multipotentialites feel more resistance with the things they don’t want to do, because they’re used to being so excited about so many things?! Bigger contrast maybe.
But yes! Good point. It’s important to look after ourselves, so we have something left for other people and everything else we have to do. 🙂
Excellent topic and article! Subscribed and looking for that book “Rennaisance business” by Emily…. And I can’t find any with that title. A little help with the title and author’s name, please? I really enjoyed putting the finger on the issue I am trying to solve for myself. Thanks!!!
Hey Liliana,
Give this a try: https://puttylike.com/renaissance-business/
Best,
Emilie
What if the things you’re not interested in is just SO important to people you are close to, as well as society at large. I feel bad because I know people are passionate and even hurt by others in relation to it, but I have no interest in politics and economics. I wish I did care, but the more Bernie, Hillary, or Trump Facebook posts I see the more frustrated I get. Does it mean that I don’t care about others because I’m not up in arms about wages, banks, or 1%?
I think this sometimes but in a slightly different way. There are so many issues out there to care about. There are so many bad things in the world that I could be trying to do something about.
But I’m just not drawn to them. The things I’m interested in are confidence and identity and mental health – issues but not the worst ones out there. So sometimes I feel bad for putting my time into those and not into helping starving children or saving the planet or whatever.
But then I figure that if I tried to be into those, I wouldn’t do it well. I wouldn’t be able to put my whole self into them. And there are other people who are all about those issues. So maybe it’s best if I focus on the things I care about and leave them to focus on the things they care about. It’s impossible to care about everything, so maybe it’s OK to just focus on the things that you feel most strongly about.
Veterinary technology. Nope, Nope, NOPE. I couldn’t possibly care less about Biology, evolution, any of that. Funny, I also detested this in high school despite getting decent grades. Don’t ask me how since I didn’t study more than I had to to pass the course and graduate. Didn’t care 21 years ago, still don’t. Lol. However a lot of veterinary offices don’t offer full time to assistants, which I love. I was fine with my tech classes right up to that. I would love the anatomy classes because hey, that’s useful in working with laser therapy. But oh mah gerd none of that science stuff. People keep saying I would be a great vet tech…… but I don’t care.
This so me. Always get stuck in something new and then when I realise I don’t particularly enjoy it, I see it as my inability to learn new things. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Joanna and showing that we all struggle with the same things.