This is a guest post by Christopher Hutton of Liter8 Ideas.
Polymath (noun) - A person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning.
Polymaths aren’t born, they’re made.
They are created by way of human patterns and practices that were copied from the years of Da Vinci and Michelangelo. And so, we have an opportunity to perform behaviors that will build us into potential Polymaths.
This post will give you the four crucial steps you should follow when you’re trying to become a polymath.
1. Lay Out Your Goals
A polymath is a person that knows many things. Thus, one must take time to learn many things.
Determine what you want to be an expert in. One can try to be an expert in everything, but becoming that kind of expert is a vague long-term goal that one can’t just record. It’s likely that you already have certain talents and skills that don’t need a lot of refinement or build-up.
It’s helpful if you set exact and specific goals for you to perform. In doing so, you are able to record your goals, and celebrate every small victory that you have, no matter what it is.
A way of building a plan for personal growth is writing something like a bucket list. Choose 5 or 6 things you want to learn and master before you die.
For example, I want to write a thorough journalistic treatise on the topic of psychology and economics. It’s a goal that will take time. My other goals are things like “learn how to drive anywhere in the Twin Cities without a GPS” and “master the art of swing-dancing”. These are small goals that I can consistently practice, but they build me up on a whole, and help me become a better man.
It’s also worth picking goals that span a number of realms. These include things like Social Skills, Physical Skills, and Mental Skills. If you aim at just one area, you will benefit in many ways; but you will also lose out in the other realms that you neglect. Thus, you should consider balancing it all out.
Have someone else offer suggestions. I know that when I came up with a list of things I wanted to master, it was certainly finite. But after talking to and reading others, I continued to add to my list. I found fields where I was experienced, and fields where I could practice certain skills more. These included things like resume writing, American Grilling, and much more.
Experience and opportunity is always abound, if you only find it and grasp it.
2. Gather Your Resources
When a person wants to learn something, the best first step he or she can take is to gather his resources. In the same way, it’s worth finding your resources before moving forward. Thankfully, the internet is an amazing tool for growing and doing things.
But one should know what they are studying, and how trustworthy it is. Articles from websites like Ehow and How Stuff Works are good for overviews, but you’ll need to take time to find in-depth and insightful resources for your goal.
Another fine source of information are people who are already experienced in your field. Often, first-hand experience is the #1 way to master something. While a resource is essential for starting, a human being can help you check and re-check. It may feel a little obnoxious, but you will value it in the end.
3. Practice, Practice, Practice
Most coaches and mentors would tell you that all it takes to get good at something is practice and feedback. Malcolm Gladwell famously reported that one of the keys to success was having 10,000 hours of practice.
However, this practice cannot be simplistic repetition. Like we talked about last week, practice needs to be focused and direct.
Economist Sanjoy Mahajan offered up support for this economic growth method, and has caused many to re-think their method of practice.
So, don’t be afraid of failure. It’s helping you build up hours of understanding and practice. However, make sure that you have the necessary resources for practice. Many skills don’t offer chances for failure. Practice won’t be possible at all. This shouldn’t limit you, though.
If you don’t have that on hand, you don’t have to give up. You can look into ways and methods of practice that cut back on costs. This might involve working with another who is practiced and can guide you. It might involve learning and mastering it by way of videos, or using alternative tools. But no matter what it takes, make sure that you build up hours, and master your art.
4. Reaching Mastery
The nature of a polymath isn’t just in his variety of interests; it’s in his mastery of those interests.
But what does mastery mean?
Mastery isn’t when you fully know every inch; it’s when you know enough to effectively perform the task, and teach others to do the same.
This may seem like a relative system of rating, but it’s more than enough for judging a situation. As you reach mastery of one item after another, you’ll notice how everything improves, and how your skills will build and build, until you reach the point of success.
To the Polymathic Level
Now, everything taught earlier is basic skill mastery. The key to becoming a polymath is mastering all of these fields, quickly. There’s a man I was told about named Pete Lackey. From the age of 12, Pete taught himself the core of Western Civilization’s literature. He learned it quickly, and went on to get a number of degrees and certificates in a few years.
What impressed me about Lackey wasn’t just his ability to learn quickly; it was his ability to learn so much, then retain and practice what he learned. His mastery was widespread. He is my model of a modern-day Renaissance Man.
And we can take similar steps. While most of us can’t master the complete library of Great Books, or know every word in the JAVA code, we can take steps to focus, master and practice these things, so that we can be the next great Polymath.
Your Turn
You’ve now taken the proper steps towards becoming a Polymath. That means that you are currently a philomath, one who desires to learn and master, but is in the process. If you take these steps, and master them accordingly, I know that the build up of these gifts will offer you opportunities to grow and learn.
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Note from Caleb: What 5 to 10 things would you want to be an Expert in that would establish you as a polymath?
Let us know in the comments of this post.
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Any 5-10 skills? Endurance running, Japanese, neuroanatomy, piano, low level computer programming, robotics, drawing, space exploration history, ballroom dance, and poetry.
I’m working on some of these right now and have plans to work on others later.
Thanks Chris for the guest post. Here are my “life long” polymath goals.
- Photography
- Film Making
- Web/Graphic Design
- Writing
- Guitar
- Speaking (on camera, microphones, to audiences)
- Surfing
- App Development
I love these lists so far. I’ve been seriously impressed with everyone’s goals. As for mine, here they are.
-Magazine writing
-Volleyball
-Philosophy
-Academic endeavors
-truth-seeking
-Martial Arts
-Literary Theory
I’ve been thinking about this topic for quite a while. This list is a pretty good general framework: http://personalmba.com/what-must-an-educated-person-know/
Thanks for the framework Josh.
I especially agree with #2.
“Education is an ongoing process that is not synonymous with credentialing.”
If this sounds interesting to you, I’d suggest you check out our effort to build Polymath University, a bricks and mortar accredited institution for 10,000 young Leonardo da Vincis.
See http://www.projectpolymath.org. We’re always looking for volunteers, interns, and instructors.
I’d love that Idea. Really want to see it started. Keep me in the know!
Good stuff!!
- Spanish
- Web design
- T’ai chi
- writing
- acting
- drums
- photography
- golf
- teaching
- cooking
Good article and good lists. The one thing, for me, that is essential is 11.The ability to see connections among disciplines, ideas and cultures. (Princeton list). I have been fortunate to take a narrow field of study and apply it in many paths including academia, private enterprise, government work, arts, literature, etc. This goes with another that was on a list — establishing a core competency and growing from there. Also, a natural curiousity is key. And simplification is necessary. Too often we over complicate things. Of course, there are many influencing factors in history but if we stop to think that all countries are made of individuals and work backwards and forwards from there it is much easier to understand. It’s a bit of a stretch but tee shirts today emblazoned with slogans, heroes etc. never seem too far from the guillotine earrngs that were all the vogue way back when. Sometimes we just have to clear the path to get to the core. All that said,one of my current goals is to be able to do 5 pull ups. And somehow, some day I have to learn to grasp practical mathematical concepts.
Great post Christopher. It seems like too many people just want enough knowledge to get by so they can go home and watch TV. My problem has often been too many interests, not wanting to narrow it down to 5 or 6, but here is my list anyway:
- Fluent in Spanish (and German)
- PHP coding
- Vector based graphic design
- Creating great blog posts
- Treating everyone with compassion
Thanks
My goals:
Aikido blackbelt (check)
Master Gardener
Acoustic blues guitarist
Calligraphy
Masfer Hungarian
Bookbinding
I’m planning these ones->
Computer Science
Arts
Writing
Psychology
Botany
Physics
Long Earth – Theology
Music
Maths
Philosophy
Yes, indeed a good article I have been reading it more than once to let it sink in, its made a great deal of difference in me.
Thank you.
These are my The topics I want to Master
-Canadian law
-Japanese language
-Wine
-Salsa dancing
-C++
-The Renaissance Era
-Speed Reading
-Banking and money
-Human sexuality
-The Romantics
Guess just to put it out there, I’ve created a strange system of life goals for myself and in accordance to what comes naturally to me.
Main goal: Art – the stuff comes naturally to me for the most part but so far I’ve really only completely mastered drawing.
Secondary goals: Politics and law – I realized that they are topics of interest to me. Also, creative writing seems to be a great outlet for me.
Tertiary goals: Financial planning, real estate investing, social justice (activism), business, veganism, web mastering (some background but not too much), and at least one musical instrument (I’m thinking the theramin).
I know 12 may be a little excessive, but according to numerology (one of my goals), 12 is the number of completion and dividing them all in to 3 categories is sure to make priorities and fulfilling these goals easier. Just wanted to put it out there so somewhere and sometime in the universe, I did state my goals in life!