There is a Telugu song titled “Nuvvu Nuvvu Kadhu” from a movie called “Yevade Subramanyam.” If you have heard the song, you will realise that the titles we give ourselves do not give us a holistic view of the individual that is “you.”
When confronted by this question, you would probably provide one of the following answers:
- I am < Name of standard connection>’s <your relation with that individual>.
- I am <Your Name>.
- I am <Your designation>.
Is any of those three answers the right way to define you?
If you provide any of the answers, you will leave out a lot of information that truly defines you as an individual. You are usually a combination of all of those and more. However, we tend to represent only a single side of our identity when discussing ourselves.
This question often pops up when you are introducing yourself to someone. After some thinking, you would most likely talk about your work. But again, does your job define you?
Suppose we look at identifying ourselves in non-professional environments, and it’s easy. We look at a connection and say, “I am <connection name>’s son or brother or husband or father or friend”. It’s simple and straight.
However, when considering professional environments, you must think hard about how you introduce or define yourself. Look at me, for example. I am usually confused about how to introduce myself when I talk to someone new. I struggle with this a lot. I am not just one title.
Should I introduce myself as an author, a marketing consultant, an entrepreneur, an AVP in business development at an insurance broker, or a comic book writer? There are so many things that I do that define my professional life.
Not all of them will be relevant to everyone I meet, but at the end of the day, those are all the same individual standing in front of them, saying “hello” to them.
I always thought I should box myself into a single title, making me look like an expert at everything I do. This was a big challenge as I never felt comfortable using one definition of myself.
That’s when I heard of the concept of multipotentialite, and when I dug deeper into it, I loved it. It helped me define myself as an individual. It helped me understand that I do not have to be just a marketing consultant or an AVP of business development; I can be multiple things simultaneously (as long as they do not wreck chaos in the other areas).
You do not have to define yourself based on one job or connection. You are a combination of many things, and you must identify that. This is what bringing your whole self means.
This does not confuse or distract you, as everyone online and in books seems to think. It allows you to explore more than one area of your life and lets you be more than a job title or a connection.
As one of my insurance college professors once said, “Being able to talk on one topic for 30 minutes is not a great achievement. Being able to talk for 10 minutes each on 10 different topics is actually a great achievement.”
This is because it shows that you have more diverse knowledge and do not just have knowledge on one topic. As an individual, you have a lot of knowledge about various things that only you and probably very few people around you know.
Remember that you do not need to box your expertise into one title or job when discussing yourself or sharing your knowledge. You can showcase all of your knowledge and experiences to the world.
So, I am a short story writer, a marketing consultant, an AVP in business development with an insurance broker, a visiting card collector, a coin collector, a comic book writer, an entrepreneur and above all, a student always looking to learn new stuff.
I can be all those things, as well as a son, brother, husband, father, and friend.
Remember that you do not have to be an expert at one thing and live your professional lives that way. If you have more interests, explore them, make them part of your identity and become more than one title.
I like being a multipotentialite. What about you?
Who are you?