TED Talk: Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling

Writer Emilie Wapnick believes people can be invested in a number of interests

SPONSOREDUpdated 3:15PM • 03/15/16

When we were kids, we were often asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” That question could elicit a number of different responses from bright eyed youngsters, but as we grew up, we honed our interests and decided to take one path. But writer Emilie Wapnick said that some people have vested interests in a number of topics and can’t pick one thing to do.

In her 2015 TED Talk: “Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling,” she said she has a number of interests that she becomes consumed by. Some may think that she is just distracted, but Wapnick is the kind of person who calls herself “multipotentialites.”

“When multipotentialites become interested in something, we go hard. We observe everything we can get our hands on. We're also used to being beginners, because we've been beginners so many times in the past, and this means that we're less afraid of trying new things and stepping out of our comfort zones,” Wapnick said. “What's more, many skills are transferable across disciplines, and we bring everything we've learned to every new area we pursue, so we're rarely starting from scratch.”

Wapnick went on to say multipotentialites’ have a superpower of adaptability and can adhere to any situation they are in. The main point she makes during her talk is that some people truly don’t have one calling. It isn’t because of being distracted or aimless in life, but it is because they have a desire to learn and a soak up what the world has to offer. She said that society can learn from these thinkers.

“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,” she said.

Click here to watch the full video.