Are you a multipotentialite?

Post Reply New Topic

Can anyone else relate to this video?

Yep...I believe people should make use of all their talents which are at their disposal.

I'm not. I never had many interests.

To an extent...

I have 3 main interests, music, writing and acting, and shift between these three. I have a little skill in each but definitely it goes musician, writer than actor.

However I feel like I am not skilled enough in all 3 of these.

I am an amateur/beginner in all of them, average and I always try to juggle between all three of them.

I feel like I can't gain enough skill to call myself 'decent' or 'competent' because I never dedicate myself to each one enough.

I might be obsessed with music for a few months, work hard to make a good quality song, and then I quickly get bored and move onto writing. Then I might work on my novel and add an amazing and well written chapter, but then shift back to practicing acting at school again...the cycle never ends.

I'm an amateur musician, beginner writer and my acting could do a lot of work. I want to be good at ALL of these things, I want to pursue all of them. I want to be an independent musician and sell my stuff, same with a independent writer, also a screenwriter/playwright for independent movies and plays, and be a theatre and independent movie actor.

These are all my dreams and I want to study at schools for all of them, get good at all of them, etc. while having a job like cashier or grocery bagger to have a stable income.

Anyway I feel hopeless when all I do is juggle them all too much...I can't pick one thing and dedicate myself to it.

For me my problem isn't the same as her's. I don't just have too much interests, spend time on them then get bored - my issue is I have too many interests and I get too bored to spend any extended amount of time on any of them at all.

How do you and your interests relate to it, physicsnut42?

It used to be that I only had one interest at a time. When I was in elementary school, it was animals, and in middle school it was physics and cosmology. But towards the end of middle school I started losing interest in that, and now I have nothing (I'm a high school freshman). I sort of bounce around between things, but never with as much dedication and enthusiasm as I used to have. I really miss it.

I am currently moving around between music, art, and writing, but I never focus on any of them very much. I mostly spend my day's wasting my time on reddit and facebook. I don't really have a life anymore.

I have a friend who showed me this video and said he immediately thought of me, but I think he doesn't quite understand my situation (he's NT).

I honestly didn't have the time to watch the whole video, but from what I got from it was that not all of us have one specific interest/talent and that many of us are 'multi-potentialites' which means potential to do many things...

This is why I personally feel like I relate a little, I mean what with not having one main interest but a few.

But yeah I'm the same way all i ever do is surf the net or work on my interests but not enough to really dedicate myself to them that much. I don't even study lol only always at the last minute...

Is the reason you made this post to see how many of us aspies actually feel like 'multi-potentialites' and how many of us don't?

I honestly think it's a stereotype that we're some sort of multi-talented group of prodigies or something. I've seen many users on this site who admit to not having any particular special skill or interest.

And even if we have interests doesn't mean we'll excel at it or have an advantage. In fact in some cases it seems we have disadvantages (writers having to write social interaction, sensory issues, etc.)

So, you personally feel you don't relate to it or you do?

Thank you, outrider.
Good post.

"multi-potentials" ad a label makes me nervous.
Puts all kinds of expectations on us.

Especially in this heat-active world where much of the activity in society is unnecessary, not to mention, pointless.

I have no specific talents and no specific interests. When I was a kid, people used to tell me I could be anything I wanted to be, but there really wasn't anything I wanted to be, so I ended up basically not choosing anything. Those tests that kids take in school that tell them what kind of career would be a good choice for them never had an answer for me. One actually said something like, "You display basic aptitude in all areas." No one could ever narrow anything down for me, and I couldn't do it for myself because I didn't have any particular interests. I still don't.
I envy (just a little bit) those people who have always known what they wanted to do with their lives or who have a major talent in one area. It seems so easily laid-out for them.

As I've grown older I've found that while I can learn how to do a lot of things well, I no longer have time to do everything--so these days I often just give things away instead of trying to fix them--even though fixing stuff is one of the things I'm really good at.

BTDT,

The NT society's got you there. Or just society in general.

Once you start sacrificing what you like in lieu of what "society expects of you", that's the path of their ownership over you.

If you don't believe me, wait a couple decades, and it'll all become clear.

Yes, that what society expects--throw away the old lawnmower and buy a new one. At least the new one is so much nicer and I get to spend more time in the garden. Now I'm learning to identify peonies.

Where I live I can just roll it out to the street and put a "free" sign next to it and someone will roll up with a pickup truck and take it off my hands--usually in less than an hour. That way someone else who likes to fix things gets to play with it.

Like physicsnut I can relate to this video. I've lost count of the times I've been labelled with that old stereotype, 'a renaissance man'. When I was a boy and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I could never think of an answer - so I tended to make one up. I have pursued a number of diametrically different careers in my life, and have recently changed course yet again at the age of 57. As the speaker in the video says, even if you try something new but then abandon it, don't worry - the experience and knowledge you gain is sure to be useful in another job later on.

So if you do have many interests, pursue them, see where they lead. Don't let society dictate what you do with your life.

I would rather pursue one interest in depth than spread my resources over multiple interests.
I find it more interesting and enjoyable to be singular.
There can only be one prime interest, while anything else I do is a small dabbling for occasional variety.
I didn't watch the video, because I lack patience to watch videos.

It's basically about how we might pursue multiple interests but get bored with them, and the difficulties of feeling like society forces us to choose and pursue just one career.

But I can see you don't relate to it.

Nothing wrong with just having one or a few primary interests either I believe, both types of people have benefits.

Having multiple makes you versatile, disadvantage is it takes longer to develop skill in all of them and to 'make a choice', a problem some of the posters here have had (including myself).

With one interest, there may also be many different skills developed to pursue it.
I think it would be impossible for me to be multipotential, as I need to pursue things really in depth to feel satisfied that I am understanding things and getting something out of spending time on my interest.

With experience, I've gotten good at cultivating skills that those around me value highly--my yard is filled with beautiful flowering plants--there is hardly a day from Spring to late Fall in which there isn't something in bloom! A couple of neighbors mentioned that the flowers were a factor in choosing to buy their home.