Modern society is suffocating our uniqueness.
It’s institutions, parents and teachers are “educating” us to conform to a static career in a world of exponential change. All with the hope of landing a “good job” that promises stability if only you accept the disease of decay. For this stagnation cripples our ambition, forcing us to leave behind the very interests that brought us so much happiness as children, in pursuit of a singular predetermined life path walked by the hordes of people before us.
And so, I offer you another path.
One laid before us by the multipotentialites of the past who turn their hand at any area of life that interests them, seeking not income, prestige or social status, but the mastery of themselves and the world around them.
To follow their lead you must learn to dance with the flow of change, embracing both her opportunities and risks by continuously seeking self-mastery.
Definitions:
Multipotentialite = an individual with many passions and creative pursuits who is able to excel in two or more fields.
Self-mastery = to consciously direct one’s thoughts, emotions and actions towards the vision for yourself and your life.
The Pathless Path = the pursuit of impactful, meaningful work that is free from the success metrics of income, prestige or social status.
The Great Apprenticeship = the ongoing acquisition of skills through the cycle of learning from passive to practice to active.
Your Inner Child = your unburdened state of being that exists beneath the barriers of ego and judgement that often grip adult-like minds.
State of Flow = the full immersion and involvement in an activity that transforms an individual’s sense of time and place.
Becoming a Multipotentialite
The world’s greatest masters have one thing in common - their ability to combine multiple experiences and skills to create entirely new ways of seeing the world. Widely referred to as Vitruvian men or multipotentialites, these individuals transcend a singular discipline in the pursuit of mastering themselves and the world around them in every part of their lives.
Grounded in the lives and teachings of multipotentialites such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin & Joe Rogan, their pursuit of mastery involves controlling their thoughts, emotions and actions by consciously directing them towards the impactful, meaningful work that aligns with their purpose.
To follow in their footsteps, you must adopt self-mastery by embracing a pathless path and redefining the goal of your career from one of never-ending milestones to the active and conscious search for the work that you enjoy doing. This ongoing search is called The Great Apprenticeship. In it you will transform yourself through a journey of discovery by the three modes of learning; passive (deep observation), practice (skills acquisition) and active (experimentation), which will guide you on every step from apprentice to master.
“But, which discipline should you learn first?”
Simply the one that interests you the most. Strive not to build a perfect career, but to take the one next step that connects you with your inner child. For the work should feel like play, alighting your curiosity by connecting you with a state of flow. If you are unsure where to look, be guided by your uniqueness and pay attention to the force inside of you that calls out for you to make decisions you can’t quite explain. It will guide you to create your most meaningful and impactful work that only you could bring into the world.
The Five Freedoms
To nurture this state of flow you must maintain:
Freedom from work - You decide the role work plays in your life, defining when, how and in what circumstances you commit the majority of your waking hours.
Freedom from scarcity - You can afford a reasonable level of comfort without needing to worry about finding the finances to cover your costs.
Freedom from influence - Your decisions are driven not by friends, family or the media, but by listening to your own intuition.
Freedom from dependence - You are not reliant on other people or random chance to achieve the outcomes you want in your life.
Freedom from ordinary - You don’t need to commit countless hours to mundane tasks and habits to realise the life you want.
All five exist to give you the clarity of mind to become a force that acts upon the world, rather than a force being acted upon. Freeing yourself from these shackles will enable you to cultivate an inner voice by tuning in to your thoughts, emotions and actions.
As you listen, you will realise that you are not the ideas you think, the emotions you feel or the actions you take, instead you are simply the silent observer of all them. With enough observation the three cults of society will become visible unto you that must be avoided at all costs, dare you never achieve the self-mastery you are capable of.
The Three Cults
To transcend stagnation you must avoid:
The Cult of Productivity - Reject the allure of optimising for doing more by redefining success not by the amount achieved, but by the scale of the impact and the journey of learning you’ve been on. Live your life not in constant comparison of what you don’t have, but in search of doing more of the activities that matter.
The Cult of Mediocrity - Strive for greatness in everything you do by seeking discomfort. Fear the complacency of stagnation and the comfort that follows it. Always stay one step ahead of mediocrity by never remaining longer than is necessary to learn what is required to move forward. For it is only by finding a rhythm with the constant change of life will you realise the potential you have and how it will move you closer to the mastery you seek.
The Cult of Obsession - Never define yourself by what you love doing. It will trap your ambition in a single dimension of life. Focus your efforts on the activities that spark the most interest, but avoid embracing their limitations. To master yourself you must be able to let go of what you love when you are no longer learning anything new.
With your mind now in your own hands, you must do all you can to bring forth your character into the world by developing and maintaining your power of creation.
The Four Protections
To create your best work you must defend:
Your Reputation - Reputation is built over a lifetime, but can be lost in a day. Protect it at all costs by giving more than you take in the world and never providing anyone with even a single justified reason to speak negatively of you.
Your Focus - Focus is how you get meaningful results. Protect it by eliminating the distractions from your life and setting the terms of how you interact with your friends, family and devices, rather than answering their every beckoning call.
Your Energy - Energy is a finite, limited resource. It is not willed into existence. Rather there is a set amount you get each day. Protect it by investing into the people, conversations and ideas that actually matter to you.
Your Identity - Identity is your unique, multi-dimensional spirit. It’s your mindset, approach to life and ideas that set you apart. Protect it by consciously deciding on the diet of information you consume on a daily basis.
For it is only by hearing, understanding and shaping your own mind that you will be given the freedom of thought and experience to create work that is a true representation of your uniqueness and self-expression.
The Digital Renaissance
The internet has created a Digital Renaissance AND a Distraction Economy in the same single stroke of a brush.
You can teach yourself an entirely new skill in an instant, build an audience of interested buyers and then sell to them everything you’ve learnt. Or you can doom-scroll to your heart’s content, choosing from the myriad of distraction platforms that trade your attention for semi-interesting content that never moves you any closer to your goals.
For the modern multipotentialite in their 20s, it is those who decide to leverage the internet’s unlimited learning & earning potential rather than fall victim to its infinite scrolls of meaningless content that will master the huge opportunity in front of them. They must tip the equation of self-mastery in their favour and use its many benefits to leverage income streams that pay them for the value they create, not the time they spend on them.
It won’t be an easy journey. But, you’re not alone.
Mastery In Your 20s is here to equip you with the skills, mental models and community to free yourself from the traditional 9-5s and embrace your own pathless path in pursuit of scalable work you enjoy doing.
You can read each weekly post entirely for FREE.
Or you can join the paid community for £8/pm to support the vision, meet other multipotentialites in their 20s in both virtual & in-person events and get access to freelancing opportunities for you to take action on.