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In this episode of Moni Talks Tech, Moni speaks passionately about being a multipotentialite, why we should not be scared to try new things, and how being forced to focus on one thing in your life is just bullshit.
Moni Talks Tech (and other things) is a show hosted by Monika Rabensteiner, a weird Austrian lady, who went on the journey to start her own business and is now here to tell the tale. But not only that: she will be caressing your earbuds with tips and tricks around tech tools and design - everything you need to make your online business work smarter not harder - and look better in the process.
Welcome to Moni Talks Tech and Other Things, the podcast where service based business owners and coaches like you can walk away with simple tips and tricks to level up your business and defeat the ultimate end boss, your dreaded tech set up. Are you ready for this then? Let's go.
Hey, and welcome to another episode of Moni Talks Tech. Today we're going to talk about multipotentialites. Why do we talk about them? Because I am one of them. If you've previously heard my story in the last couple of episodes, you know that I've done a lot of things in my life, and not all of them genuinely connected, but I sometimes somehow try and bring all of them together to make this one thing that I can do right? And sometimes this gives me a really massive headache. And I do think, we don't talk about this enough because there are a lot of people like me out there, and we are often not officially treated as problematic because we are cool with the creative ones. We do a lot of different things. It's fun. We have always something to talk about. But in a business setting, people are often talking about wanting the expert in this certain kind of area. And I get it, I get it from a lot of different standpoints. I get it that if you go to the doctor, you want this doctor that is focused on your guts. If you have stomach issues and you don't want somebody who is proficient in feet or something, what a random discipline that is feet. But you want somebody who knows their way around what is wrong with you and not somebody who deals with something else, right? And experts are often treated as the people who deserve the biggest money because they focus on this one specific thing and have done this one specific thing for ages. And that's great, and that's valid and that's very true.
But at the same time, what I think a lot of people miss out on is when you have people who are interested in a lot of different things, they have experienced a lot of different things too, which they then bring as an asset to whatever it is that they're doing. If you look at my history, for example, and my story and my professional story as well is that I've switched from something that was related to graphic design, to something that was related to social work. And this, if you just read this up, and if I tell you this, you would think this does not at all fit together. Not at all. But there are so many things I learned from my first almost seven years in this other job. And then from studying, which was a massive benefit, and which wasn't only a massive benefit for me in my second job, it was a massive benefit when I started to go to uni again.
I had contact with clients, I had to be on the phone with people. I had people randomly come in that I needed to be nice to because they were our customers. I needed to organise myself. I needed to make sure things are done on time. Those are all skills that I've learned aside from everything else that I was doing there that I could easily bring to uni for example. It helped me organise my schedule at uni, get all the lectures that I wanted to when I wanted to. It made me flexible enough to also look for alternatives. And I saw this in comparison to a lot of the students that came right from school, right? They were used to getting everything dished out and not had to think about a lot of things.
And they struggled while I was on it. I was so on it. And I think those four years, well, six years technically apart from my first uni experience really helped me grow. So yes, well, it sounds like I've did something totally different. I just got a lot of skills from that as well. And the same goes for my university experience. Not only did I once again start to work in groups with other people, I also learned so much about society as a whole and psychology and education and educational science and the law, and business because I also took a course that helped me find out more about business. So I learned from that as well. So you just continuously learn and especially as a multi potential and I'm not saying that experts don't learn too, but as a multipotentialite, you learn from so many different settings in your life and you learn so many different things, which when you bring them together and which you can use in a lot of different areas as well.
And it's not just something that is wasted on you or wasted on what you've done before. And it's also not that you always need to start over at zero. You just have this bag that you then start to carry around with you. And the longer you walk, the more you fill up this bag with a lot of different things, and all of a sudden you have this basket full of the best dishes from around the world and every specialty from every country that you've visited and that you've been to. And it's just this massive incredible mix of variety that you've created and that you carry along with you all the time. And I'm not saying that it's not great. I mean, I'm a fan of rice. I could eat rice all day every day and would not get tired of it. So if I am an expert and I just have a bag full of things that I know and that I'm good at and that is my comfort food.
Comfort food is great too. I love comfort food. But variety sometimes just brings this little extra spice of life into your life and into your business. And this is why it's so important for us to also see the massive benefit that multipotentialite bring to their profession. And especially as a business owner. I think it's this, sometimes it's a bit the cherry on top because you can, especially in your own business, try out a lot of different things and tailor it to exactly what you can do. Whereas in employment situations, it's often, this is the role and this is what you do. Even though, as I mentioned previously, I brought a lot of additional things to the table as well. But in essence, especially as an entrepreneur, you can do what you want. I can edit videos for that one person today and I can create the website tomorrow and the day after.
I can have a really techy setup that has nothing to do with graphics and it's just brain work and problem solving. And I like all of this equally, right? So this just makes work sometimes really, really fun and makes multipotentialite this really big asset. In addition, there is something really special about not being scared of being a newbie and not knowing your way around things when you like a lot of things and want to learn a lot of things and I get it, we all want to be great at what we do, and we want to maybe be perfect, even though perfect doesn't exist, but we want to be as good as possible. And some people want to be the best. And then you really want to focus on one thing where you can be the best and spend a lot of time in doing this, this one thing so that you are the best.
And this is why we have Lizzo who has been doing music all her fucking life because this is what she was born to do. And if she would've not done all this practicing and and invested all her time in, in creating her career, we would not have Lizzo right now. And how fucking sad would that be? But at the same time, she also loves a lot of other things, right? So she created the fashion line and both of these things are valid. Wanting to be an expert is just as valid as wanting to be being a multipotentialite, which is why I just think we need to be aware that it's totally fine and totally legit and totally normal to love a lot of things at the same time. It's like when you have a relationship and a lot of people think monogamy is the way to go, but there are plenty of other people out there who are capable of loving more people at the same time.
And why? Who are we to judge them? If this floats your boat and if this is your thing, then this is your thing. I mean, all we want is more love in the world. There is so much hatred already anyway. And if it's more love, then let it be more love. Like what can be wrong with that? So in essence, all I'm trying to say is don't be scared of trying new things out and don't force yourself to just do this one thing because everybody tells you you need to become an expert in one thing and only then you can make it. That's bullshit. It's just bullshit. Yes, there are things that you can do better than others and focus on that, but there is nothing wrong with trying other things out. A friend of mine, you thought she would just be this amazing artist, but no, she's not only this amazing artist.
She can create music, she can graphic design, she can write, she can do all the things, and she does them well. It's just this incredible package of gloriousness. And if she would just focus on one thing, we would miss out on so many other creations from her, which would be so upsetting and very sad at the same time. And who knows, maybe if you are on the lookout for this one purpose, which I do think is bullshit in general, because in fact, the only real thing that we need to worry about is the process and not the end goal. Because what what are you gonna do when you've reached your end goal? Exactly. You won't know. And there is always something that's gonna come after that. But the journey is your purpose. What you do is what you should be doing here in life.
And you decide what you want to do with your life. And if it's winning a gold medal, then go freaking you go with this gold medal. If it's wanting to end world hunger, please go end world hunger. We need so many more people like that. If you want to make the world a better place, please make the world a better place because we sure as fuck need that. But there's also nothing wrong with you if you just like to stay at home, have a partner, or be on your own or do whatever you want with your life. You are just as worthy. But maybe somewhere on this path of yours where you try a lot of different things and where you start to become good at a lot of different things. Maybe this is what your path should be.
Maybe you need to be the person who is gonna test everything out and can tell everybody else that this thing sucks, but this other thing is great and maybe this is what you're supposed to be here for. So all in all, I just think it's really important, lose the stigma around people who love a lot of things in their life. We are a creative bunch of people. We experienced a lot of different things. We've met a lot of different things. And all that gives you is more knowledge and more empathy and moral love for everyone around you. And it's just what we need.