Multi-Passionate Mastery

Ep 28: How to Thrive as a Multipotentialite with Emilie Wapnick

November 23, 2022 D'Ana Joi Season 2 Episode 28
Multi-Passionate Mastery
Ep 28: How to Thrive as a Multipotentialite with Emilie Wapnick
Show Notes Transcript

I could not be more excited about our guest today! Emilie Wapnick is a personal hero of mine when it comes to boldly choosing to live life on our own terms as multi-passionates and multipotentialite people.

You may know her from her viral TED Talk, Why Some of Us Don't Have One True Calling, which has over 8 million views. If you haven't seen it, scroll down to our show notes after you listen to this episode so that you can check it out!

In true multi-passionate fashion, Emilie and I covered a WIDE range of topics including:

  • Emilie's journey to the TED stage.

  • BTS of what it takes to run her global community, the Puttyverse.

  • The four work models for multi-passionates and multipotentialites.

  • Emilie's latest passion: Astrology.

  • An off-the-cuff convo about the value of curiosity.

I invite you to pour yourself a cup of something yummy and imagine that you're pulling up a chair to join in on this conversation with Emilie Wapnick.


😍 About our Guest 😍

Emilie Wapnick (she/they) is an award-winning author and community builder. She is the founder and creative director at Puttylike, where she helps multipotentialites (people with many passions and creative pursuits) integrate all of their interests to create dynamic, fulfilling, and fruitful careers and lives. Unable to settle on one path herself, Emilie studied music, film production and law, graduating from the Law Faculty at McGill University.

Emilie’s TED talk, Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling, has been viewed 8 million times. Her book How to Be Everything was published by HarperCollins in 2017. It has been translated into 13 languages and won a Nautilus Book Award. Emilie has been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, Forbes, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, BBC and Vice.


⬇️ SHOW NOTES ⬇️


Check out Emilie's TED Talk: Why Some of Us Don't Have One True Calling

Emilie's community for multipotentialites: https://puttyverse.com

Emilie's website: https://puttylike.com 


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Access the automated transcript for this episode HERE

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Please note that any of the offers mentioned in this episode are no longer relevant as my business is closing. If you'd like to stay connected, come find me on LinkedIn!

Track 1:

Being curious and then learning how to like, have boundaries around that can be very, very helpful for multipotentialites, multi passionate. So like I have this thing called tinkering time where I'll like set a timer and I'll like tinker for 40 minutes or whatever, and I'll just let myself go nuts and like explore whatever, like go down the rabbit hole. Um, and just knowing, like trusting myself and knowing that like I've got a timer and like I'm putting this in a boundary. It's not gonna take over my whole day and then I can get back to whatever my like main focus is right now. There's something freeing about that and it allows you as a multipotentialite I to balance like whatever your priorities are with like the, that exploration.

Welcome to the Multi-passionate Mastery Podcast. The podcast where creatives come to embrace their talents as a gift, not a burden. I am your host, D'Ana Joi. Together we'll explore how to finally make friends with focus, ditching overwhelm, and idea fatigue once and for all, and how to be unapologetic about who you are as a multi-passionate. But I'm not just going to pump you up with a bunch of empowerment content. I'm going to give you tools and practices that you can implement starting today. It's time to unlock your multi-passionate mastery. Let's begin.

Joi:

Welcome back to the show. You're in for a major treat today. I know I say that before most interviews, but I mean it wholeheartedly more now than ever because you are about to meet someone who's been so influential in my life as a multi-passionate, or as you'll hear today, as a multipotentialite. Emilie Wapnick is an award-winning author and community. She's the founder and creative director at Puttylike where she helps multipotentialites, which is people with many passions and creative pursuits integrate all of their talents to create dynamic, fulfilling, and fruitful careers and lives. Unable to settle on one path herself. Emily studied music, film, production, and law graduating from the law faculty at McGill University, Emily's Ted Talk. Why some of us don't have one. True calling has been viewed over 8 million times. Her book, How to Be Everything was published by Harper Collins in 2017. It's been translated into 13 languages and won a Nautilus book award. Emily has been featured in the New York Times Fast Company, Forbes, New York Magazine, the Huffington Post, BBC, and Vice, and Emilie is here with us on the show today. Emilie, welcome to Multi-Passionate Mastery. It's so great to have you here. I see you're over there blushing, but that's your bio. You just gotta own,

Track 1:

It is my bio. Thank you so much, Joy. I'm so excited to be here.

Joi:

so Emily. Most of us who come across your work, myself included, the first time that we meet you is when we see you up on that TED stage giving your epic talk about why some of us don't have one true calling. For many of us who identify as multi-passionate, creative, or multipotentialite, when we come across that TED Talk, it's a lot of our aha moment of,"Oh my goodness, not only is this clearly not something that only I'm experiencing, but it's something that actually makes sense," because you give so many great examples in your TED Talk of how people can flourish when they don't choose just one thing. And so it's the most refreshing conversation. We will absolutely be linking it in the show note. So if anyone's listening and hasn't seen it, you can do that right after this. But I'm curious about what comes before that. What was the journey like from realizing that you are multi potential at yourself, all the way to standing on the TED stage telling people that,"Hey, you might also be like this, and it's okay." Can you kind of take us through the journey before the TED Talk?

Track 1:

Yeah. Um, okay, so, so in 2010 I was finishing up law school and I kind of knew that that wasn't for me. I was, you know, I just had kind of reached my end point in, in this journey and didn't want to take that further in like a professional sense. Also had this idea of starting my own business and I was taking, um, an online course on like, you know, coming up with a business idea and like doing that whole thing and I got stuck. I think it was the second module was like choosing a niche. And I was like, Oh my gosh. And you know, I did that thing that us multi passionates, us multi pods do where I like make a bunch of lists and I'm like, Oh, that sounds so exciting, but I couldn't give up all those other things, but that sounds so exciting. But I don't just wanna do that thing. And so, you know, I just, it, it really led to this like bigger sort of existential crisis where I was like,"Yo, this is just like, this is me. I've been like this my whole life. It's been a problem my whole life. What if I like redefine that and I stop fighting it? I stop being anxious about it and I like find a way to embrace it and just be multifaceted. Do many things and like, are there other people out there who are doing this? Can I learn from them? Maybe there are other people who can relate to this quandary and I can like share what I'm learning. Maybe this could be my thing. So that's kind of how putty like started. And at first it was just a blog. It was just my own personal blog basically, where I was sharing my thoughts on this. I didn't even have the word multipotentialite. Um, and I, very quickly other people started kind of raising their hand and coming out of the woodwork and being like, Me too. Like I thought it was just me, but like apparently not. And then more and more people and then other people that I could kind of. Interview and learn from and see, you know, how are you doing this? How are you building a life and a career on many things? What can I learn? What can I share? And things just kind of went from there. And then I slowly, through my own curiosity and research and writing and thinking became like ironically a kind of expert on this topic, which is so like meta and, and funny. But yeah, that, that's kind of what happened. And you know, I, I think in 2012 I applied for a TEDx and I didn't get it. And that's fine because I, I honestly wasn't ready at that point. And I was like, Okay, I, I know I wanna do this. I know I wanna do some speaking. I know I'd ultimately love to do a TED Talk because if you do a really good TED Talk and it gets picked up, it goes viral. Like you can really have an impact, you know, you can really get a message across in a big way. Um, so I had that in the back of my mind. I also had the idea of a book in the back of my mind, and for another few years I just, I kept blogging, I kept sending out newsletters. I kept doing research and, you know, I, I did, I wrote the first draft, the first version of Renaissance business, my ebook, and started the putty verse community, and just we're doing all these things and kind of like the, the concept of the multipotentialite and how to make that work. All that was crystallizing in my mind. And then when 2015 came around, I was like, Okay, this might be the year for the TED Talk. And I, I did some research. Took a look at what events were happening, and I applied to one that was happening in Oregon, and I, I got it. I had to do an interview and then I, I, you know, prepared, prepared, prepared. I was like, This is my shot. I like, have to be like over prepared for this thing. And yeah, things kind of took off from there. Um, that, that's, yeah, so kind of like humble beginnings and just like believing that there is something here, that this could make a difference in people's lives, that it matters. And, um, I, I tried to like kind of see, see it before, you know, before it, it really happened. Like, I'm not, I'm not huge into like the, the secret and all that stuff, but there's definitely something too that like visualizing yourself in, in the position you wanna be in and visualizing kind of like your community and the world and the change you wanna make before you're able to do it. So, yeah.

Joi:

Yeah, it really sounds like you were being called toward it, you know, And I love that it started from a place of curiosity and a place of, is there another way? I think the most beneficial quality that multi-passionates, multipotentialites, et cetera, can have is curiosity and not downplaying that curiosity, but following it because there's so much juiciness there. And on behalf of everyone who's been impacted by your, your TED talk, I wanna say thank you, you know, for, for choosing yourself in that moment. And it's interesting, we have such parallel journey, so I'm, I'm excited to hear this story. For me, it was kind of similar. I was just like this, If I cannot choose one thing, I have got to just choose the opposite cuz this is not gonna work. Started a blog. It's interesting how blogging just feels, there's such a low barrier of entry, you can just get started and write about whatever you want. So it was a really like forgiving and gracious platform and then things snowballing from there. So I don't know if that's a business model per se, but there's something to be said about leaning into what your experience is, to the point where you become excited about creating a new way. And so thank you for doing that because your TED Talk has impacted so many people and hopefully, um, even more now with this episode because whoever hasn't heard it's gonna for sure go watch it. I'm gonna keep mentioning that, uh, to make sure that everyone listening watches it right after this. So something that I've been really fascinated by in watching your journey and just kind of keeping up with putty like, and all the things that y'all do over there is putty verse and it's this vibrant community full of multipotentialites from all over the world. Truly a global communal space. People of all ages, demographics, various different interests, different walks of life, and I've had the opportunity to be inside of the putty verse and experience it firsthand. I'd love to know a little bit of the origin story of putty verse and also what drove you to go the community building route. Why did you feel like creating community for multipotentialites was something that was.

Track 1:

So. As I was blogging the first few years, I kept getting these emails. I kept getting basically the same email that was like, there's someone else out there like me. Oh my gosh, I had no idea there was someone else like me. And then I'd get another email that was like, Someone else like me, you know? And I kept being like, Yeah, that's true. We, we are both multipotentialites. But it's not just me. Like, I've gotten like hundreds of emails exactly like yours. There's all these other people in the world around the world who can relate to this, who have many passions, who don't wanna just be one thing. How do I connect all of you? Like I, you know, I, I have some stuff to share, but I by no means, I don't even, especially like being in kind of like a guru type role. Like I, I, I think our community is so smart and resourceful and creative, and the best thing that we can do to flourish is. The best thing I can do, I think, is to connect multipotentialites with each other and to kind of put all that brain power together. Cuz it's not just about me, it's, it's about this community and it's about helping each other out. So that was where the initial idea for the PuttyVerse came in. Um, it was both like, I can't answer all these emails and help everyone individually. So like, let's help each other. And also like, I am not the authority on this. Like, we've all lived like this, this, these lives. We've had similar challenges. Even if we don't have the same exact interests, a lot of us experience similar things. So like, let's connect and let's work together and collaborate and support each other.

Joi:

what would you say has been a huge learning moment for you? Whether it be personally, professionally? in creating a community like that, cuz I can imagine that it's wonderful and it also requires a lot of logistical things and requires, um, upholding a certain culture and creating that culture. I'd love to hear a little bit more about, is there anything that you've gleaned from this that you applied to other areas of your life now since bringing the putty verse into the.

Track 1:

Yeah, great question. Um, so having a team has been huge. I could not run the community by myself. I've got a great team. Um, there's like the, a few of us in the core team who kind of manage things and keep an eye on things. And Joel Slovesosky is like my right hand guy and he's. He's, Yeah, he's amazing. He's just like, he's got spreadsheets of all of our members and like, you know, just like details that might be important to know about them, that they tell us. Like he handles scholarships. He just, he's amazing billing, all that stuff. Um, and then we've got some, I guess, kind of community members who are super, super active and just love the community and wanna help out and they're a huge part of welcoming new members. And, um, so ha, building out a team around me has been essential. Um, and I did that from day one, but that team has definitely expanded. Um, some of the challenges is, you know, with community, there's always gonna be conflict at times. There will always be like, as wonderful as our community members are, there are misunderstandings, there are just. There are things that happen that you have to deal with and address. Um, so learning how to do that has been a process. Um, and learning, you know, when, like what approach to take when someone crosses a line, whether it's something that's, that should be very obvious or is very obvious or something that is more unspoken. How to deal with that in an appropriate and as productive a way as possible and making sure that everyone feels heard. And so those sorts of interpersonal things have been a challenge and something I think, I hope we've gotten better at. We've got community guidelines, which. For a long time they were unspoken, but we official officially like wrote that stuff down a couple years ago, and we've been modifying those and that's been huge because we have something to point people to. And now I think when someone becomes a member, we point them right to the community guidelines so they can read through it and get a sense of the culture and the expectations and that sort of thing. And that's been really, really helpful.

Joi:

Yeah, cuz if you think about it, on one hand it is community building and on the other hand it's kind of. Relationship management, right? Because you have all these different personalities and you want everyone to thrive in a communal space no matter what. And so there's an element of making sure people feel safe, making sure people feel seen, um, making sure that all personality types are given a voice, including introverted or extroverted. Right? Um, it's something that I consider as well because I only run group coaching programs, so there's always a community aspect involved in that, which is one of the reasons I choose that to be how I coach. Cuz like you said, it's so nice when you can bring people together and they learn from each other and you're not this overarching authority and you can invite people to connect and be a resource for one another. On the surface it's like, oh cool, this amazing community. But people don't always understand what goes into creating a community that feels really gracious, when you enter, there's so much work that happens before, before someone even walks in the door or logs in for the first time. So I wanted to shine a light on that. And your team is doing an amazing job. And we will link to putty verse as well in the show notes. I know that it opens, uh, once a month for like 48 hours, but people can get on the wait list and hear about that if they're looking for this type of community. So we'll definitely link to that.

Emilie:

Thank you. And the other thing is just like a lot of people I think come to the putty verse to either get off social media or just like have another alternative that's more positive and supportive. And so I try and keep that in mind and I really want us to all be supporting each other and like, disagreement is fine. It's important sometimes, um, but it's just about figuring that balance, Like when do you step in and when do you just like let people have conversations and play things out? And how do you create a positive, supportive environment without censoring people and you know, like all those sorts of things. That's, it's, yeah, it's interesting.

Joi:

A lot goes into it for sure. And I think it's good that you're having a chance to reflect on this just because, you know, if you haven't kind of patted yourself on the back or acknowledged that like you're doing really big work to create a foundation of safety in your community, then let this be the time where you can like, ah, soak all that in, but I do wanna pivot and I do wanna talk about something else. Another reason that I admire you so much is because you have really been able to build a career and a life around being multipotentialite and utilizing the gifts that come with that. And for so many multi potential lights and multi-passionate, the career piece. Really tricky to figure out whether it's, Well, I have a nine to five and I don't wanna do this anymore. I just wanna do my own thing. And I think sometimes it can feel very black and white, especially when we talk about entrepreneurship. There's not a lot of gray area. People often feel like if they have a support job, then they're failing at entrepreneurship. Um, or if they choose to be an entrepreneur, then everything's on their shoulders. And I'm familiar with some of your frameworks, and I know that you have sort of found a middle way. So I would love to talk about specifically the four commonly used work models for multi potential lights and or how do multi podd structure their careers? What have you seen that works?

Track 1:

Yeah. Um, so while I was doing research for my book, How to Be Everything. I, I really wanted to figure this out. I really wanted to figure out if there were any patterns or any types of careers that multi potential arts tend to gravitate towards and do better in. And um, cuz I've, at that point, and today even I've, I've multipotentialites arts in like every career doing all kinds of different things and it just seems like there's no rhyme or reason. But, um, so I, I did a bunch of surveys and interviews, in depth interviews with people and, um, I did find that there were these four commonly used work models and some people will blend these. Um, but I do find that there are good starting place to just kind of imagine what your career might look like. So each of these models allows you to get variety. A sense of meaning, and kind of the financial piece, um, in different ways. So the first commonly used work model is what I call the group hug approach. I called it this cuz it's kind of like a bunch of your interests coming together in a big group hug. You're sort of combining your interests. So this could be a job, maybe at a small company where you are encouraged to wear many hats and do a lot of different things. Um, you could work in an interdisciplinary field, like I spoke to people who work in, um, AI or environmental policy or, um, city planning. Like there are these different fields that tend to be more interdisciplinary, that touch on different subjects. And so you have to kind of know a lot about many different things to work in that field. Um, owning a business is, uh, often an example of a group hug because you know, I mean, you and I are both doing this where you, you, you do the design, you do the marketing, you do like all the different things, and, um, I, you know, I speak to multipotentialites, so I can talk about and write about like creativity or mental health or career. Like, there's so many different things that go into that. Um, so that's one form of a, of a group hug. Um, so that's the first work model. Then you've got the slash approach, and this is someone who is like a programmer slash yoga teacher slash comedian. It's, you know, you've got like multiple different jobs and or businesses that you run that you don't necessarily combine. You just kind of like switch between them over the course of your week and each one is part-time, but you wouldn't want any one of them to be full-time. Like you get something different out of each, each of them. And that variety really works for you. Just kind of like switching from different parts of your brain throughout the course of your week. Um, so, you know, I interviewed a woman who, uh, works at a non-profit two days a week, and she does freelance marketing one or two days a week. And then she's an aeriel silks artist and does performances. And so these three very different revenue streams that she enjoys each for different reasons. Um, so that's the second model. The third is what I call the Einstein approach, and I called it this because Albert Einstein worked at the patent office. So he had this like very stable day job, um, notoriously slow paced day job. And then he developed his theories after hours on the side. so this is somebody who has a stable job that takes care of their financial needs, um, but doesn't take. So much time, like it doesn't, doesn't bleed into their evenings. It leaves them with enough free time and energy to pursue their many passions on the side. Um, so my favorite example for this model is this guy I interviewed, His name's Charlie Harper. Um, and he is an IT director. He's got standard nine to five, and then when he leaves the office, he goes to musical theater practice. He's involved in community theater. He sings in an acapella group, and he, he's also a carpenter. He builds furniture and he built, he, he's built a boat. Um, we, he built a boat, right, Right as we were talking. And I was like, Oh my gosh. He builds a boat. That's so cool. Um, so this is where, you know, people who use this model, you get the security of the, of the job, and hopefully it's something that you enjoy. You shouldn't hate it, otherwise it's not, it's not working for you. Um, but then you don't have the pressure of monetizing every single passion or. Curiosity thing that you become interested in, uh, which can be a tendency as a multi potential. Um, so you can just explore those things freely. And then we've got the Phoenix work model. And this is where you dive into an industry, into a field for a longer period of time, maybe five, 10 plus years. And then at a certain point you feel like you got what you came for and it's time for a change, and then you dive into something else. Something often totally different. And you do that for a long period of time. And so some of the people I interviewed just look back on their careers and there were these chunks of time, five, 10 years where they were doing one thing and then another chunk of time before that were, they were doing something totally different. And people who use this work model often explore the next thing a little bit on the side and just to make that transition smoother. Maybe they'll take a class, maybe they'll volunteer, maybe they'll make some connections. Um, they just kind of go through their interests more sequentially than simultaneously. And of course you can be a hybrid, you can blend these models, you can do one for a while and switch to another. Um, but I find that it's a nice way to imagine what a multifaceted career might look like if you were to do well, you know, one of these different, um, models and start.

Joi:

That's awesome. As you're talking my human designpart of my brain is like interesting. I wonder if certain people's human designs and their profiles would lend to these four models. So yeah, just of course like I'm like, ooh, there's a woo woo element to this somewhere. For sure. And I know you're really into astrology, so you ever wanna play with those four models and how they relate to astrology? I'm just planting that seed cuz how fascinating would that be? When you were interviewing people, did you find that they sort of organically fell into these models or that they had intentionally decided on something or that they had tried a bunch of things and then eventually landed on what worked? I wanna sort of give our listeners some advice on where they could start with figuring out which of these models might work best for.

Track 1:

Yeah, I think it was a mix. I think oftentimes, The people I was talking to, like someone would start in one model and it wouldn't work for them, and so they would shift to another one, like the person I mentioned who has the slash career. Um, before that, she worked full-time for a marketing agency and had kind of an Einstein thing going on, but it wasn't really working for her. I think maybe they were asking too much of her, so it wasn't like quite dialed in. Um, but she wanted more flexibility, more freedom. I think the different models work well for, Yeah, I mean, like you said, different personality types perhaps. Like if you're someone who really likes integrating things together and like just working on one thing that all these different facets to it and lets you use all these different skills. And the group hug approach makes a lot of sense. If you're someone who really craves security, um, and like a more traditional career, then the Einstein approach makes a lot of sense. If you really love flexibility and the slash approach makes some sense. Um, so I do think, yeah, there's probably something to, and I'm actually playing with the idea of blending astrology and my coaching practice and that that might be coming down the line. Um, but yeah, so, so you know, thinking about like what you value and what really matters to you and how you work best, um, and like what types of work environments like really excite you and light you up inside, that can be really helpful. And other times you kinda have to like experiment and shift things around and, and that's okay too. Like that, that's kind of the process. I think. Like even if you decide on a work model, you still often need to tweak it and kind of perfect it for, and then of course things change because your interests develop. I think like one of the best things we can do as multi passionate is get comfortable with like not having a, a defined identity, a defined like career, like just getting more comfortable with like things being a little bit flexible and loose and that being okay because like you are solid, as a human being and like just kind of having that confidence in yourself, like you can figure this out and you've got the skills and the creativity.

Joi:

Totally. Yeah. Trusting that you're gonna land where you're meant to land is so important and keeping it malleable and being flexible is so important as well, because in that you're leaving a lot more possibilities open versus closing doors. And as you were talking just now, I was thinking about how these four work models could also be thought about as business models for the entrepreneur. So like if you have a group hug approach, then maybe you have an overarching personal brand and you bring in a lot of different elements. That's kind of where I think I would land. And you as well, like you were saying, because we like to have our hands in a lot of different projects in any given time, and we have these skills that kind of like, I have to use this anyway so that I. Have it bumbling up inside of me. And then I could think about like the Einstein approach as someone who has their flagship offer that covers, you know, most of the bases in their business and if they wanna do some side offerings on the side, they will, but their business is not dependent on them. I could think of the the slash model as someone who does like seasonal offers and just circulates through them and is always doing something new. And then I'm forgetting one of them, What am I forgetting?

Track 1:

Phoenix is kind of like the serial entrepreneur.

Joi:

exactly. The Phoenix is kind of like, okay, I'm ready to burn this all down and I'm just gonna start a brand new business. So how cool that these models even translate into the language of entrepreneurship. And I think for everyone, listen. Because a lot of multi passionate that I meet, I meet them in the place. A lot of my clients who join, prioritize and Thrive, one of the main reasons they want to embrace clarity, prioritization, and focus is because they have this bigger goal of maybe starting their own business and they wanna get to the place where they can, you know, finish things and not feel so confused about just getting through their day to day tasks so that they feel confident in being able to do something like get their own business off the ground, right? And so I meet a lot of people who are very frustrated about their current support job or feeling like that's the thing, holding them back. But everyone listening as you're listening to these for work models and how we're spending some time here, I invite you to really reconsider your experience and whatever your support job is. How is what you're learning in that environment supporting you? What are you gaining from that as a multi-passionate person? Are there elements of your gifts that you can bring into that space? Or maybe is it time to switch to a different, um, work model so that you can, Because when you can make peace with that and feel good about an integris and not like going to work and like doing a bad job or whatever because you're just frustrated that you're there, but when you can start to integrate, Now it's becoming a more holistic approach and it's no longer this thing that's holding you back, but it's, you're getting paid to learn about yourself. And that can be a really great way to reframe that for anyone who's feeling frustrated, um, that they're still in their nine to five and what they really want is their own business. Do you have anything else to add to that, Emily? I'm sure you meet a lot of people as well who are in that space of feeling like if only they could quit their job, um, life would be this magical experience. And I'd love to, to speak to everyone who's in that place.

Track 1:

Yeah, I would add to what you're saying, um, you know, viewing things for now as like the thing that supports your emerging business, like the thing that supports your other passions, your other hobbies, um, as much as possible, if you can frame that nine to five as like the way that you're supporting yourself while you're, while you're doing something else and you're trying to kind of shift. Um, and then I would say like getting, I don't know, like a mastermind group or even just like an accountability buddy or a community, just other people who are working to do the same thing that you're trying to do or already have businesses. Um, that is huge. That is so helpful. I mean, that is just, I've had a, a mastermind, a little group, just three of us for. Six, seven years now. And, um, it makes a huge difference. Just, you know, talking about like what's working, what isn't working, asking questions, setting goals for yourself and checking in with people like that. And, and also just being around other people who are doing the same thing and wanna have similar goals, like just the mindset. Um, it makes you feel like it's possible and like you're part of something else. And um, so that would be my other

Joi:

Okay, so Another question for you. I know that you have had a lot of success as a multi potential light and you've helped so many fellow multipotentialites and multi-passionate, Those words are really inter interchangeable in my mind, but you've helped so many other people find success. What has been something that you struggled with in your journey? You know, what's something that was a roadblock for you and how did you get through it?

Track 1:

Honestly, my anxiety has been, like, all the internal stuff has been the biggest challenge for me, especially when it comes to speaking and just, yeah, just like even when my, when my book was coming out and I was getting these speaking engagements, like in Australia and Romania and all over the states, it was like so exciting. But I didn't always enjoy it because I was just filled with anxiety for much of it. Um, and I'm not sure that I fully ha, you know, have solved that problem. Like right now, I'm, I'm, you know, I'm working on this TV series that I'm pitching and like, I'm gonna be having these big pitch meetings and like, I'm still like, how am I going to go through this? And like, not just be an anxious mess, like I wanna enjoy this process. So, I don't know. I mean, I, I think I've gotten a little bit better at it. I just try to ground myself. I do meditation and the power posing and that sort of thing, and I just know that it's gonna be there and all I can do is prepare and like just try and have, enjoy myself. But yeah, I think honestly that's been the biggest challenge for me is just, especially like, I don't feel super comfortable in the spotlight, but I just felt like I have to do this. Like it feels really important. And also focusing on the message and on the people that I'm trying to reach rather than on myself. Like when I'm up there on that TED Talk stage, it's not about me. It's just about this message and communicating it in the best way possible so that I can help people and make a difference in their lives. So shifting that focus has helped a little bit too.

Joi:

Yeah. Anxiety's an interesting, an interesting experience. I have a fair share of anxiety myself. Therapy has helped a lot. My therapist gave me a mantra,"We'll see," She's like, How about instead of trying to project how you think it's gonna go, you just say, We'll see, be open to what it's gonna be like. And I'm like, Okay, we'll see. We'll see. I, that's, I, that's simple enough. I can get behind it and I can actually remember it in an anxious moment.

Track 1:

I've done a little bit of therapy too. Um, and also like, I guess astrology has been a huge help for me cuz I just, it has helped me like really understand myself and like where some of my things maybe came from and you know, what I'm working with and I, I think it can be a really powerful tool.

Joi:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's talk about astrology. So, um, tell me when did you get bit by the astrology bug and also how has learning about, like how to read the natal chart and integrating astrology lended itself well to your experience as a multipotentialite.

Track 1:

Yeah. Um, so I've been kind of casually reading horoscopes and stuff for years, but when Chani Nicholas's book came out in early 2020, that was when I looked up my birth chart for the first time and I just, I just got obsessed and I just dove in. I just finished now, um, an eight month program at the Portland School of Astrology. I've been just, you know, absorbing everything that I could and like just trying to read charts for friends. And, um, I'm sort of making the shift now to professional practice. We'll see what that looks like, But, um, Yeah, I, I love that astrology, especially like once you get past just basic sunshine astrology, and you look at the birth chart and all the different planets and all the different, the angles and the different aspects. It's so multifaceted. It fits so well with the whole multi potential light thing because you're not just your sun sign, you know, you've got, like, there are nine other planets in your chart and, um, many of them talk about different parts of your personality and different parts of your life. And so it's inherently multi podd in nature, I think, because it's so multifaceted. And sometimes, you know, your sun sign and your moon sign conflict and, and sometimes, um, you know, your, your natal Venus like conflicts with your natal Mars. And like, so there's just like a lot. And, and I also love as a Virgo rising, I love all the like pattern spotting and like, Symbolism and the mythology and um, and the data. Like you can get more than other, like no shade against like any other divination techniques or anything. But there's something about astrology that my logical mind really likes because it's about like literally the placement of the planets at the moment you were born. It's so mathematical and yeah, you have to like, you learn the symbolism and then you like put that together with what the houses mean and the different aspects and there's just something really kind of like logical about it. Which is funny cuz if you don't know much about astrology, I think people think it's like very woo woo and like, and some people view astrology as more spiritual. I tend to, there's something spiritual about it for sure. Um, and the fact that I, I think it works. Like I, I, I see it working in transits and in people's birth charts and, um, I don't, I can't explain that, but. I love how methodical I can be as an astrologer looking at someone's chart and I can just kind of tell them about themselves and tell them about, and then they'll be like, Oh yeah, like, I never thought about it this way, but like, and then if you can talk about both the positive things and the kind of gifts that they have. And then also there's, there's some, something really healing about pointing out some difficulties that they might have. Um, I remember I got a reading with an astrologer a couple years ago who was like, Yeah, the, the first, first 19 years of your life, not great And I was like, you know, I wouldn't have phrased it like that, but like, you're kind of right. Things did massively improve when I was 19 and things have been a lot better since the like, really, like it felt very seen. Um, so there's, I like that aspect of it a lot just. You know how seen someone can feel when, when you're telling them about their charts. And of course, like when you're reading someone's chart, like they are the expert on their own lives. Like, I know the astrology, you know your life, but like, let's have a dialogue and see how the, how the symbolism has played out for you. I don't know. I just love it

Joi:

Yeah, I know. I, I, there's, there's no video component to what you all are listening to, but Emily's smiling ear to ear, and I knew that would happen as soon as we shifted. This topic and you know. Like, like you were saying earlier, it's about being open, right? To what calls you as a multipotentialite person. And maybe you didn't start your career thinking, Okay, so the plan is I'll start my career, I'll like focus on career and work for multipotentialites, and then the next phase will be astrology. Like you didn't know that ahead of time and yet, you know, not only are you leaning into your interest in astrology, but I heard you mention that you're thinking about even integrating it. And I think that's such a great example of what the multipotentialite I experience tends to be. You know, you follow your interest. Sometimes they might not lead you to a space where you wanna integrate, and that's okay too. We just are following our curiosity, which is also very beneficial. But sometimes you stumble up on something. For me, it's human design. Like it's the same for me. Your astrology is my human design, Learned it about myself, became really obsessed with it. And then I was like, Okay, well I'm not doing business without this anymore And now it's very integrated. So I think there's something to that and it's interesting to, to see that in you and, and kind of have that reflected back. And hopefully it's an encouragement to follow that curiosity. Let me run a theory by you and see what you think about this. I feel like for multi-passionate people and for multipotentialites, one of the greatest things we can do is not suppress our curiosity. Even about topics like, Oh, I, I feel like nerding out in astrology. Oh, I don't know. Where does that fit into this X, Y, and Z, but rather letting yourself go to that place and exploring it. And my theory is that when we allow curiosity to be present in our lives for interest, that we might not know what it's gonna turn into, that lends us to also being more curious about ourselves and our own processes, and can help us to develop more self inquiry than if we didn't have curiosity in our lives at all. So another way to say it is, I feel like when multi-passionate people suppress their curiosity and say, Nope, I'm not gonna, Even though I teach about prioritization and focus, I tell my clients all the time, Please have all the ideas. This is not about suppressing any of that. Because when we suppress that curiosity, it's almost like having a more fixed mindset, I guess, of saying like, Well astrology, I don't know where that would fit, so I'm just not even gonna go there. And then on the other hand, you might be, I don't know, you're working on a project and you hit a roadblock and instead of being curious and saying, Hmm, I wonder why this is difficult, I wonder if there's another way to do this. I wonder if there's someone I could talk to. You might instead. Because you have this pattern of suppressing your curiosity. Just be like, Well, maybe this is just not the thing for me, and then let it go. So this is like a theory that I have of curiosity when it comes to our interest and things that call to us. If we can cultivate it in that space, it can really lend itself well to being curious about our own processes and can lead to deeper self inquiry. Can we just like talk this out? What do you think? Am I onto something here? Have you seen the same thing?

Track 1:

I hadn't thought about it that way before. I really like it. Um, and it makes sense to me that just that open mindset that encourages creativity would, would benefit you in your main thing or things, whatever those are. Um, yeah, I really like it. I don't know that I have, I, I have to give that some thought. I will add that. Being curious and then learning how to like, have boundaries around that can be very, very helpful for multipotentialites, multi passionate. So like I have this thing called tinkering time where I'll like set a timer and I'll like tinker for 40 minutes or whatever, and I'll just let myself go nuts and like explore whatever, like go down the rabbit hole. Um, and just knowing, like trusting myself and knowing that like I've got a timer and like I'm putting this in a boundary. It's not gonna take over my whole day and then I can get back to whatever my like main focus is right now. There's something freeing about that and it allows you as a multipotentialite I to balance like whatever your priorities are with like the, that exploration. Um, but that's kind of a, a separate aside. I, yeah, I, I like this idea of just cultivating that curiosity mindset. I think it's something that comes naturally to us, but we can shut it down. Because of all the voices in our culture that are like focus specialized, like don't waste your time on things that aren't going anywhere. Like it's, yeah, so just like re reminding ourselves and practicing that curiosity, I think is very valuable. Interesting theory.

Joi:

Yeah. So yeah, if you get any thoughts on it later, email me. We can like talk about it more. Um, tinkering time. I love that. I know everyone just took a mental note like, Oh, tinkering time. I'm gonna try that. Yes, try that. Inside of my program, inside of prioritizing thrive, we call it like dating our ideas. I'm like, take your idea out on a date. Like just spend some time with it. Court it a little bit, you know, flirt a little bit. It's okay. You don't have to commit, you know? Um,

Track 1:

love that.

Joi:

It's so important to give ourselves that freedom as multi-passionate, you know, because if we, and it's interesting because it, it kind of goes both ways. It's like we wanna give ourselves the freedom to explore as much as we want to in this lifetime. Right? And whatever life cycle that we're currently in, whatever we're interested in, there's a reason we have those interests. We wanna give ourselves that freedom. And the opposite end of the spectrum is sometimes feeling like everything you explore, you have to commit to. And it's like, now you're just putting yourself in a different shaped box. And now you're kind of now operating in this extreme of, and this used to be me, like, I was like, okay. If I'm gonna be multi-passionate, I'm gonna be like the most obviously multi-passionate person anyone's ever seen. I'm gonna have this and this and this. Um, kind of like I tried the slasher thing, I guess you could say, as a business model. And it didn't quite work for me, I guess. Um, because I realized part of my experience as a multi-passionate was I had to give myself freedom to put things down, um, if I didn't wanna do them. So tinker time, take your ideas out on a date, follow your curiosity, and allow that to lead to more self inquiry.

Track 1:

The other thing that I think happens is that people will be like, Oh, I'm interested in this thing. But like, I remember that other thing I was interested in two years ago that like didn't work out or like I lost interest, so I'm, I'm not even gonna try. And I think like we need to become comfortable with the idea that like, when we're finished with something like that looks different to a multi potential than to a specialist. Like when you sometimes, sometimes you explore a path and you end up spending years in that field and other times. You just do a little project or you learn a little bit and then you're like, Okay, cool, I got what I came for. I'm ready for something else. And that's not a failure, that's just the process. That's just what it is to be multi-passionate. Some, you know, sometimes we learn something and it doesn't quote go anywhere, but it's still worth doing if we are being called to it. And, uh, maybe we'll use those skills somewhere else or maybe we won't, maybe we just had fun for a while and that's okay. So I think like working on detaching, like the outcome from, from the process and um, just getting comfortable with like trusting yourself again, like, I'm being pulled to learn about this thing. So like, let's explore a little bit and not worry about where.

Joi:

Yeah, totally. Could not agree more. Well, Emily, you have been so gracious with your time today. Thank you so much for coming onto the show. It was a pleasure hearing about your pre TED Talk days and how you found your way as a multi potential I and instantly opened the door for so many others. Again, I wanna say thank you on behalf of all of us who are now out here doing the things because we had someone very publicly showing us that it was possible. I really loved hearing also about what it's actually like to run a vibrant community, like the putty verse, which again, we will link to down in the show note. So if anyone. Is interested in taking a step inside. You can find that down in the show notes. I also loved talking about the work models and that organically pushing us into astrology. Um, and then being able to just have some casual connection time over how interesting the multi-passionate and multi potential light experience is, especially when we start to get into the realm of curiosity and letting ourselves explore. So thank you so much for being here today. Can you please let everyone listening know where they can find you and how they can have more Emilie in their lives?

Track 1:

Yeah. Thank you Joy. This was so much fun. Um, folks can find me@puttylike.com. That's P U T T Y L I K E, um, or the putty verse.com. Um, and I'm Emilie Wapnick on all the, all the socials. Um, so yeah, I'm out there

Joi:

Cool. We'll link to all that in the show notes as well. All right, Emilie, thanks so much for coming on the show and everyone listening, I'll see you in our next episode.