How To Plan Your Career Path If You Have Many Interests

So you’re about to make a huge decision that will affect your career in the long run. Maybe the thought scares you, and that’s normal.

But if it scares you because you can’t choose one thing to pursue, and you have to sacrifice so many other passions, then you might be a multipotentialite! A “multipotentialite,” now becoming a buzzword in the online community, is ‘someone with many interests and creative pursuits.’

Maybe you’re anxious about planning your career because society says, “Pick one track in senior high, finish that one degree in college, train in the same field, then specialize in that industry.”

The good news is it’s okay not to stick to one career path! You should be free to explore your potential no matter what field it is.

But how do you go through a career route when you don’t want to stick to one track? Here are a few tips:

Explore as many opportunities as you can in school.

School prepares you for the “real world” of employment, business, and industry.

Hone your skills in every subject and extracurricular activity. Sign up for sports, join clubs, attend school conferences in various topics. These will help you discover your strengths and talents. Let this guide you as you move onto your next career-planning stages.

Work in different fields while you’re young.

If you have some vacant time, grab opportunities to work. This will give you a feel of working in your chosen fields.

See whether a particular career is truly fulfilling or appealing just because of the high pay.

While young, you have the luxury of time. Work opportunities at this stage will help you make the right decisions in the future.

Deal with boredom and distraction well.

As someone who has many different pursuits, it’s common to get bored and distracted by other unrelated things. That’s why once you reach a certain point, you tend to lose the motivation to see it through.

The key here is to first establish a specific goal before starting a project. When you reach that end point, you’ll get to achieve your goal. Whether it is learning at least the basics of photography or gathering a certain amount of work samples for a writing career, it helps to think that you achieve and learn something every time.

If you’re good at it, accept it!

With modern society trying to limit young people to stick to one career path, you might feel that you shouldn’t explore other opportunities even when you’re good at a lot of things. Instead, accept that you have such talents.

Don’t be afraid to try and see how well you perform at different areas. You’ll never know what potentials you might unlock. Also, transferable skills are highly valuable.

Innovate and get creative

As Emilie Wapnick points out, one strength of multipotentialites is idea synthesis—that is, combining two or more fields to create something new at the intersection. You can do this by merging your own and others’ expertise. You’ll be surprised at how totally different concepts and ideas can result to creatively helpful products.

Take a look at how the two different disciplines of arts and technology can produce interesting careers.

So, how do you begin?

Pick a senior high school track where you can be more flexible. Or pick a degree in college that will help you develop many skills.

For multipotentialites, it might look like a circus of opportunities at first. But take advantage of it and learn as much as you can.

Read more tips on starting and building your career through Edukasyon.ph Career Conversations page!

Sources:

• https://puttylike.com/terminology/
• https://puttylike.com/why-you-shouldnt-finish-what-you-start/
• https://puttylike.com/now-what/
• https://cdf.graduate-school.uq.edu.au/events/transferable-skills
• https://www.ted.com/talks/emilie_wapnick_why_some_of_us_don_t_have_one_true_calling/transcript