Name: How to Be Everything
ISBN: 9780062566652

Emilie Wapnick

A Guide for Those Who (Still) Don't Know What They Want to Be When They Grow Up

How to Be Everything

What do you want to be when you grow up? It's a familiar question we're all asked as kids. While seemingly harmless, the question has unintended consequences. It can make you feel like you need to choose one job, one passion, one thing to be about. Guess what? You don't. Having a lot of different interests, projects and curiosities doesn't make you a "jack-of-all-trades, master of none." Your endless curiosity doesn't mean you are broken or flaky. What you are is a multipotentialite: someone with many interests and creative pursuits. And that is actually your biggest strength. How to Be Everything helps you channel your diverse passions and skills to work for you. Based on her popular TED talk, "Why some of us don't have one true calling", Emilie Wapnick flips the script on conventional career advice. Instead of suggesting that you specialize, choose a niche or accumulate 10,000 hours of practice in a single area, Wapnick provides a practical framework for building a sustainable life around ALL of your passions. You'll discover: • Why your multipotentiality is your biggest strength, especially in today's uncertain job market. • How to make a living and structure your work if you have many skills and interests. • How to focus on multiple projects and make progress on all of them. • How to handle common insecurities such as the fear of not being the best, the guilt associated with losing interest in something you used to love and the challenge of explaining "what you do" to others. Not fitting neatly into a box can be a beautiful thing. How to Be Everything teaches you how to design a life, at any age and stage of your career, that allows you to be fully you, and find the kind of work you'll love.

Wynter

I had a bit of an existential crisis this week, so when I saw this book in the library it seemed to call out my name. Truth to be told, I am 30 years old and I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. I have a pretty useful degree, a stable job where I am valued (at least I hope so), and an array of hobbies I enjoy, but something is missing - the spark that really motivates me. The routine is a heavy burden. I pick up side projects on a whim and lose interest in them just as fast. One day I'm learning Swedish, the next I am starting a blog, and next week I'm planning to launch a small business. 

And then I find my answer... I'm a multipotentialist! Excellent, just what I needed in life when I can't even decide which flavour of pizza to order for Saturday night. 

Multipotentialists are people who have a variety of interests, who tend to jump between projects without finishing them, and who grow bored with doing one thing for the rest of their lives. Apparently there is a way to turn these qualities into positive skill sets with a little bit of...



I'm going to say it straight up: I hate self-help books. I think they belong in the shady pile of pyramid scheme manuals along with the likes of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Call me a cynic. These authors with no real profession, and who like to call themselves "motivational speakers", find a way to take advantage of poor, gullible chumps looking for that one solution to all their worldly problems, and all for $29.99 plus shipping. I don't subscribe to the value of that. So judge me if you will, but I approached this book with a grain of salt (if not for existential crisis, I'd probably never have picked it up). 

Fortunately, Emilie Wapnick's How to Be Everything resonated with me more than your average self-help book. It helped me to understand my own squirrel syndrome and to accept it for what it is. It also did what I needed it to do: validated the fact that I'm not the only weirdo out there. While I found exercises for "finding" myself gimmicky in that The Secret way, and some types of multipotentialism unrealistic/exhausting, I did think that chapters about kicking self-doubt, fear, and procrastination to the curb useful. 

Not groundbreaking (mostly common sense), but helpful if you feel a bit lost about lack of direction in your own career path.

How to Be Everything A Guide for Those Who (Still) Don't Know What They Want to Be When They Grow Up

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