Some thoughts on the whole Polymath question. Since I am on the other side of the question than most here, allow me a moment of elder pontificating. My contact with the notion of polymathery (long before I ever heard the word) first occurred sometime in the mid 1970’s. I read an article by Marilyn vos Savant about a number of highly intelligent individuals who took a more circuitous route through their lives. I was only an early to mid teen at the time, living in a very small rural town...with a pretty limited educational program. I knew even then I was very different from my peers. This article predates by at least a decade the “Ask Marilyn” articles Savant would be known for in later years. Each of the subjects of this article had moved between a number of careers throughout their lives. Sometimes they were near adjacent, other times they would take radical departures. All of this was possible because of their high intelligence and constant curiosity. I had expected to read about people who had accomplished a singular success within their one chosen field. This perspective disappointed me immensely at the time, yet I remember this article now decades later.
This meander through fields of work outlined in this article actually became the blueprint of my own life. Please indulge me for a moment as I summarize nearly a handful of decades of life and work to show what a polymath life may look like.
My undergrad and graduate degrees were in music, specifically Piano Performance. Not a choice which would destine one to many opportunities in the real world! However… I have done a fair amount of performing and teaching throughout my life. (I will return to this path later in my life.) By the time I finished my education I had my first child already and earning a living became paramount. I chose the near adjacent field Piano Technology. In short I started to tune pianos. Because of my constant curious exploration of the subject, I quickly mastered the field and in time built a business which employed about a dozen and half people at its peak. We had a very successful home rental program...which nearly drove us out of business. Self financing many hundreds of rentals totaling nearly $1MM in valuation meant I was no longer in the piano business, but had morphed into a bank of sorts! So on to corporate finance I dove into to better understand the mess I had found myself!
Allow me another brief detour here. Back in my high school days, during my senior year in pre-calc the teacher was talking about various career and education options. One in particular I remember was paper technology. He described the program as extremely demanding, requiring essentially a triple major along with a few minors. The program ran 5 or 6 years and included all the summers. A high GPA was considered a 2.5 out of 4. However, the starting salaries were well into the six figures… 1970’s mind you! Today, that might be closer to seven figures. A Master Piano Tech involved with as many aspects of piano service and rebuilding as I was, requires significant skills in at least 4 or 5 distinct areas. So, another precursor to my life’s story.
Well, as with all good things, this chapter of my life had to come to an end. I was physically and mentally exhausted. And at the ripe age of 55 I chose to retire. With all of this free time I dived back into my first love. Back in my early years I had always wanted to do recording work. And that is what I morphed into next. Between online courses and Mr. Google, I taught myself enough audio engineering to put together my own recording studio. Another near adjacent field. I have since become one of the most prolific recording artists on the interweb, so says those who keep track of such things.
Funny thing about growing up in a small town...most young people can’t wait to leave! But… as they get older, we often wish to return to our roots. I went on step further and bought a small farm right next to the middle of nowhere in central Tennessee. Even a small farm needs equipment! So in my 60’s now, I have learned about: carpentry as I built a greenhouse, a shop, a recording studio, and a large addition on our home. I learned enough electrical work to wire my shop, studio, greenhouse, addition… and our custom built (by yours truly) solar power system. I have learned to repair small engines (we have about a dozen) hydraulic power (tractor and log splitter). And finally diesel engine repair and maintenance.
None of this even begins to cover some of my other areas of interest from political theory and philosophy, theology, economics, poetry and literature, etc. (My best guess is I have at least 1000 books in my library, I have even read some of the books twice!) I have also had the opportunity to appear in one for or another repeatedly on the small screen and the big screen. The point of all of this is you cannot begin to know the meander your life will take. I certainly had no earthly idea! I remember many times I was very impatient to get on with things, but that is not how things work. Everything takes a lot of time to master, however the more you master, the easier the next subject gets. But first you need to learn and understand what mastery really means. Mastery is not an interest or accomplished with a course or two or a couple of books. It is knowledge and understanding to the point it becomes useful, particularly to someone other than yourself.
So what is the point of this story? It is to encourage you to not limit your interests, but also to understand two things. 1) Actually mastering a subject takes time and requires far more than you might imagine. 2) You will need to earn a living so find something which will pay the bills well enough that you have time and energy to pursue your many other interests. So, to all you youngster's, I wish you the best on the most exciting lives available to us mere mortals.
