Is multipotentiality the key for happiness?

Last Friday we had an amazing and enthusiastic virtual event with the incredible Ana Luísa. Her presentation centered on the question: “Is multipotentiality the key for happiness?”.

Born in Lisbon and currently living in London, Luísa is a true multipotentialite with several passions, jobs and creative thoughts. So, how did her journey start? How did she discover this about herself? Luísa has always been changing jobs. Just when she was really into a certain job, she would wake up the next day and suddenly feel like there was nothing there to make her happy and that everything she wanted from the job was already achieved. So, she changed to the next one…and the next one…and another one.

While on this road of constantly changing jobs,  she crossed paths with Emilie Wapnick, who was a true inspiration in multipotentiality. (You can check out her TED talk or her book “How to be everything.”) The concept of being a multipotentialite resonated perfectly with Luisa’s life: someone with many interests and creative pursuits.

As a dreamer and a multipod, Luísa realizes now she was not wasting time in any of her previous jobs. The skills she learned at one job are transferable to her new jobs, so she feels she’s not starting from scratch, but adding information and skills to each new experience.

Now Luísa sees that  multipotentiality gives her many super powers: rapid learning, idea synthesis, adaptability, big-picture thinking and the capability to relate to different people and environments. Still, it also has its challenges, such as finding something that gives financial stability, needing to build confidence in each endeavor, fighting off imposter syndrome, and dealing with family and friends who don’t understand her seemingly patchwork approach to work. She has been many things — tour guide, photographer, journalist, English teacher, restaurant manager and so on. The connecting thread between all of these jobs? They fulfill her two true loves: travelling and creativity. Luísa’s lesson for others? It is really important for a multi-hyphenate to remain connected to their true loves in order to feel alive and to keep running.

Additionally, to help her stay afloat Luísa has three life pillars:

1 - Surround yourself with other multipods

2 - Say yes to new adventures

3 - Search for inspiration

In this journey, it’s also important to create boundaries, build a safe environment, remain true to your values, and above all,to trust your gut feelings to help you keep your mental sanity.  For Ana Luísa her values  are integrity, honesty and kindness. Each time she has a decision to make, she always checks to be sure she’s honoring those values. Finally, she shares the importance of not letting your talents stagnate. Instead, take the opportunity to improve, learn and invest by either getting trained or surrounding yourself with the best in that area.

So, is multipotentiality the key for happiness and success? Well, we can see that it definitely gives you a whole package: it makes your options wide, you get so many perspectives, your universe is broadened and your passions are fulfilled. Luísa is a dreamer. We thank her for sharing her lessons with us, as she is very relatable, very enthusiastic, and definitely a girl full of talents and creativity! It was so inspiring to learn from her! Thank you Ana Luísa for sharing with us your multipotentiality and giving us a window into your wide life!

Text by Ana Sousa

Photos by  Irina Konova and Sónia Ramalho