Explore your Intersections!

We are part of a culture where you see the youth passionate – more than ever before – about finding their passion in life; might take years to find or even fail at it – it is not a scavenger hunt where you just need to find and collect some miscellaneous items!

Yes, it is true, 80% of the people fail at finding their true passion, that one thing which they want to pursue and excel in. Those who know in their hearts what their passion is must pursue it as best results can only be seen there. But, what about the rest!?

Does this world not need them, will they be unsuccessful in their lives if they don’t find that one thing!?

At my age, this term ‘passion’ and the hype associated with it can give you a real hard time, can make you feel like a mediocre and also an underachiever at times.  I have friends who say – you must find your passion in life to succeed whereas I also have friends who say passion is over hyped. Who is right !? I’ve been juggling between the two since the time I graduated and entered the real world.

I agree with the thought that you cannot excel in a particular field, if you are completely disinterested in the same – as you will never be able to give your 100%, however, I don’t completely disagree with the thought that it is over hyped.

In retrospect, when I see myself – at one point in time I was interested in learning to play the violin, I started learning with enthusiasm and excitement – learnt to play few songs  and then after some time I got bored. I used to play badminton in my school days and initial days of my graduation – I played and then I got bored. I used to love swimming in my early teens – even won few competitions and then again, I got bored. I often ask myself, am I a person who doesn’t have any specific interest – will I ever be able to find that one thing that will consume me, passion for that one thing which will sustain throughout my life!? There is NO ANSWER.

“Find what you love and let it kill you” – famous quote by Charles Bukowski. We all wish to follow this in our lives. But, this Ted Talk – ‘Why some of us don’t have one true calling?’ by Emilie Wapnick, kills it totally. Yes, it does!

While still being stuck in this rut of finding my passion, few days back I watched this Ted talk! It has answers to all the queries of all those who fall in my category. And I am sure most of you do!  If you think not being passionate about one single thing is a problem – it is NOT! The case might be – you are interested in multiple things – you try one for some time, get bored, then you try another and then another and the cycle repeats. Do not let that anxiety and the thought – there is something wrong with me, bother you.

You might be a multipotentialite!

As most of the skills are transferable across disciplines – it is never a waste of time to pursue something you are drawn to, even if you end up quitting it.  You might bring your knowledge to an entirely different field.

Understand, your eclectic mix of skills and experiences can give rise to some innovative out of the box ideas, which the current world needs. You have access to a lot of such areas of intersection which you need to explore.

Also, as this talk says, multipotentialites have some tremendous strengths over their specialist peers!

• Generating Ideas – They can bring the knowledge of various fields, access the various points of intersection and give innovative ideas to this world
• Rapid Learning – They have the ability to learn things faster. Moreover, as they are used to being beginners many times in the past, they are less afraid of trying new things and stepping out of their comfort zones
• Adaptability – They easily morph and adapt themselves to a given situation

So, embrace the way you are aligned, be diligent about following your passion and in case, you have many – pursue them and explore your intersections!