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That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.
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When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. They are often the entrepreneurs and inventors who disrupt other fields by finding a point of intersection between two or more areas of interest. Instead of forsaking one passion for another, the polymath looks for ways to combine them.
#How to become a polymath full
It allows them to see the full context of a situation and how a decision could impact different groups of people. Their understanding of multiple subjects gives them greater perspective. Polymaths are also perfectly primed for spotting the broader implications of the problem at hand. Polymaths acquire new skills with relative ease because they can apply past knowledge from previous pursuits to whatever they’re currently learning. Most skills are transferrable across disciplines. A polymath knows that they will be able to solve whatever problem they face because they’ve done it over and over again. Constantly undertaking new projects and tackling new subjects has allowed the polymath to become confident in their learning ability. They aren’t intimidated by the awkward and uncomfortable initial stages of learning a new skill. So let’s explore what polymaths bring to the table that could round out the specialist. But is it truly inevitable? Is there a way to combine all the powerful strengths of the polymath with the specialist’s depth of skill? I believe there is. Polymaths have attracted some negative monikers as well, like the dilettante, dabbler, and the jack of all trades who inevitably masters none. But more often than not, we nurture multiple passions that follow us at work or in play for the rest of our lives. Sometimes we land on a specific subject we wish to pursue at the expense of all others. Our passion for a given area of interest is transient and leads us down diverging paths of exploration. As a kid, you can probably recall having a few different answers to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” They’ve garnered a few different names over the centuries, from the renaissance man, to Barbara Sher’s “scanners”, and mutipotentialites coined by Emilie Wapnick.Įven if you consider yourself a specialist, our true polymath nature is reflected in the hobbies we enjoy and the subjects to which our natural curiosity draws us. What is a polymath?Ī polymath is someone who cultivates a broad range of knowledge across a variety of disciplines.
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What if all that time spent on an abandoned college major, or multiple, wasn’t actually time wasted? What if your trail of fruitless side projects were quietly forming a repository of information and skills beneath your notice? If either of these scenarios sounds familiar to you, you might be one of millions whose propensity for trying new things has been neglected and underutilized by our society.
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