What to Do When You Have Too Many Interests But Not Enough Time and Energy

So you want to be a Polymath?

A sketch by Leonardo da Vinci

You cannot turn your passion into a business, read all the Russian classics, stretch and meditate daily, learn a new language, prepare for a marathon, catch up on your favorite Netflix show, maintain a vibrant social life, and consistently get 8 hours of sleep per night. At least not all in the same season of your life.

For quite some time now, I’ve been writing about narrowing down your focus and accepting that you can’t pursue all your interests simultaneously. But whenever I talk about this, I’m met with strong opposition.

“Specialization is for insects,” people say.

“And failing to reach any of your goals is for losers,” is one of my replies. It sounds harsh, I know. But it’s coming from someone who can relate to you wanting to pursue 10 different things at the same time.

You don’t want to limit yourself; there are too many things you would like to do. Trust me, I know.

But what do you think is more limiting?

Choosing one thing to go all in on and exploring your full potential through it?

Or having your energy and attention scattered in 100 different directions and never finding out what you’re capable of?

Especially if you consider yourself a creative individual. You owe it to yourself to see how pursuing one of your interests with full depth and intensity plays out.

As the Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki said,

“It is a big mistake to think that the best way to express yourself is to do whatever you want, acting however you please. This is not expressing yourself. If you know what to do exactly, and you do it, then you can express yourself fully.”

If you are a person with multiple interests, it means you are interested in life itself. You want to experience life fully and deeply. The last thing you want is to end up with a superficial life, right?

Think of it like this: You are not limiting your potential by narrowing down your focus and number of pursuits. You are limiting distractions and the unnecessary dispersal of energy and attention. This, in turn, creates more freedom and energy to explore and express your full potential.

But let’s say that, to all of this, your answer is still, “I’m not buying it, David. I want to be a Renaissance man/woman. I want to be a polymath!”

That’s great! But you realize that becoming a polymath is also a single path, right? A polymath isn't switching up his or her goals every week. They are committing to something concrete. And commitment is precisely what people avoid when they want to “keep their options open” and “not limit themselves.”

If you want to be the person who is excelling in multiple different areas, that’s admirable. But what are those areas? Do you have any plan, or even an outline of a plan, for how you will distribute your time and energy to study those different subjects? Which ones will be primary, and which ones are secondary, at least for now?

An aspiring polymath would have certain clarity around these questions, wouldn’t you agree?

Friends, I hope you see I’m not trying to cut your wings.

But let’s start being brutally honest with ourselves and recognize the difference between being a polymath and being scared to commit to a certain path and a plan of action.

Thank you for reading.

P.S. If you want to join a community of both (real) polymaths and people passionately focused on a single pursuit but, most importantly, humans trying to relate to and encourage each other, check out Sisyphus Society.

Free Resources:

Clarity Quest - self-exploration course

My Book Recommendation List

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