How to Become a Polymath That Is Successful?
In my last post about being a Polymath, I gave reasons why polymaths have higher chances of being successful more than specialists.
So, the concept of Jack of all trade and master of none is still a valid statement to me based on the reasons I gave.
We already know that a polymath is a person who has vast knowledge across range of areas. A Polymath is also known as renaissance men/woman, the term was used to refer to the numerous great thinkers that lived during that time period and boasted achievements in intellectual, social, Emotional, artistic and physical pursuits. Popular examples throughout history include Imhotep (chancellor, architect, physician), Benjamin Franklin (writer, politician, inventor, scientist) and Leonardo da Vinci (scientist, artist, philosopher, writer, inventor).
In our modern day, being a polymath is difficult especially for the educated ones who are subconsciously told to become an expert in a particular topic.
These schools are constantly preaching again being Jack-of-all-trade-and-master-of-none.
Well, my instinct tells me differently, that knowing just one thing limits my abilities, so I believe someone else like you share same view with me about being a polymath. That’s why you’re here in the fact place to learn how to become one…. hahaha
In this article, I will be revealing some hacks on how you can become a modern day polymath and be successful with any path you choose.
This is quite overwhelming and looking tough, but I don’t really think it is. so
- How and where do you start?
- How do you find the time to become a polymath?
- What field do you learn first?
- How do you translate what you learn into real-world value as a polymath?
So, below is a guide on;
How To Become A Modern Day Polymath
- Be Curious and Open to Learning
Yes, becoming a polymath requires you to have an open mind toward learning almost everything. While doing that, be sure not to go overboard and have issues of information overload. That’s a different thing altogether and will be addressed in another post.
You don’t really need to become an expert in all the things, rather, you just need to have basics knowledge and understand how different topics works especially in the real world. Having a 25% knowledge in many topics is enough to get you started as a successful polymath who wants to build a real-life solution.
Being Curious will require you to ask questions which you might get instant answers from people in the field or you find yourself making some deeper research to get a better understanding of your query.
2. Develop Passions and Interest in Diverse Topics.
Ok aside being curious and open to learning different things, you first have to understand that everything starts with your mind.
Understand that all growth and learning occurs outside your comfort zone and that cannot happen if you don’t make up your mind to it. There might even be a common thread linking through your interests which will make it easier as you learn across fields.
3. No such thing as perfection, so, you don’t have to be
From experience, being perfect is not possible, the law of thermodynamics also stated that too. You don’t need to be the best in your field to be a polymath, just be average across many things.
Waiting to become perfect is simply a waste of time and that’s one thing you must avoid while learning to become a modern-day polymath.
Once you have a good knowledge of something, start moving into the next things and don’t forget, Google polymaths understand how to structure the things they know and translating them into real life solution.
Taking so much time to become and an expert will simply cost you lots of timing.
For me, I’ve been able to move from being a graphics designer>running a printing press>to being an event planner>to being a stage artist>to being a farmer>to being a speaker>to being a writer>to being a marketer>and currently running a startup company to connect everything I have learnt between 2012-2018.
Did I forget to tell you I also have diverse knowledge in building materials, a touch of real estate, haulage and logistics and Blockchain/analytic?
In all, I am pretty good in most of the things I mentioned but not an expert in all.
You get the point now? Just keep learning and moving forward.
4. Bypass Limiting Factors
Understand that there will also be limiting factors, the journey will come with it own roadblocks.
While I’m all fascinated about learning so many things including tech, coding is one thing I’ve made up my mind I’m not going to do regardless the fact that I will need it for the rest of my like.
Here is what I did,
I simply learnt the basic thing I need to prepare my webpage with respect to SEO which is HTML and I still suck at, but then I have gone ahead to master the use and integrations of the major programming languages that if you see me talk coding, you will believe I’m one badass software developer, but hey! I’m not.
Is there an interest that you’ve been putting off because you felt that you weren’t qualified? Well, the internet has made it easier than ever to pick up a skill and learn from experienced teachers. YouTube alone boasts thousands of educational and DIY video tutorials. Some exclusive university courses are even now available to anyone with a working internet connection through platforms such as Entrepreneur Platform business academy, Coursera and edX, there are just so many ways to learn and as such nothing should limit you..
5. Set Realistic Goals and Follow Through – Kill the Procrastination
hardworking with extraordinary levels of productivity are the common traits all the greatest polymaths of all time have in common.
Most polymaths have been seen to record what people will call ‘Overnight Success’ but you and I know there is nothing like that unless it’s a jackpot or gamble. The success records of Polymaths always look very shocking and inspiring but then, most people forget there was a lot of what that have been put into it in a long time.
So, from all the things you have learnt from different topics, there must be a problem to solve if you look well, kindly structure a workable plan and built something extraordinary from scratch to change the world like polymaths do.
