Negative attitudes towards polymaths

When I first became interested in the subject of polymathy (doing more than one thing), some of the first literature I read described how society often has a negative attitude towards polymathy. People can't seem to believe that it's really possible to do more than one thing, and do it well. Polymaths are often perceived as immature, unfocused 'dabblers'. Whilst doing my participant observation, I've encountered quite a lot of these attitudes in the past week, so I thought it might be useful to have a little muse on the topic...

I've often thought that negativity towards those that multi-task is partially caused by jealousy; the majority of people accept that there is a certain level of necessary monotony to their working lives, but that's all part of being a grown up, part of the reality of work. When they encounter somebody who says, 'I'm never bored! I do 2 different part-time jobs and am also doing a circus skills course at the weekend...!', these same people tend to roll their eyes and tut. I suspect that many people would secretly love to spend a day or two a week running their own business, or writing a blog about something they are passionate about. We can't quite stomach seeing someone else have so much fun, so we chose to criticise their 'irresponsible' choices.

I've spoken before on my blog about an ex-teacher of mine who warned that she thought it was impossible to be 'great', to achieve expert status in something (in this case acting) if you were distracted by trying to master other skills as well. I massively respect her opinion, but it is based on the assumption that everyone's aim is to 'be the best' or reach the very top of one particular field. In my blog post 'High Achiever or Wide Achiever', I discussed Roman Krznaric's question of whether it is not just as valid to be a 'wide' achiever. If a person chooses to pursue multiple interests/jobs until their curiosity is satisfied and then move on, then is that not a perfectly valid lifestyle choice?

This week, I began discussing with a friend the fact that I feel unfulfilled in my current 'day job'. I talked about how I wanted to find stimulating work to pursue when I am not acting, and began to excitedly talk about many potential ideas that I've had. He got annoyed and kept repeating that I 'just need to focus' and that I will never get anywhere if I don't just stick to one thing. This is nothing new, it's pretty typical of society's attitude towards polymaths, but it's quite hurtful, and causes the multi-faceted polymath to feel that there is something wrong with them. In her book, 'Refuse to Choose! (2006) Barbera Sher describes some of the heartbreaking stories of 'scanners' (people with a great range of interests) who've been told by friends and family their whole lives that they are effectively failures, because they don't stick to one thing.

My findings so far point towards the fact that you don't 'choose' to be a polymath, you either that type of person, or not. Some thrive as specialists and couldn't conceive trying to juggle more than one strand to their career, because they get what they need from utterly dedicating themselves to one job or area of interest. Others, those whom author and life coach Margaret Lobenstine calls 'Renaissance Souls' are never going to be satisfied with this lifestyle - they crave constant change and love to explore many things. The purpose of my inquiry was to explore the benefits and disadvantages of being a polymath, but my findings are leading me towards the idea that it completely depends on the type of person. Perhaps this is why my friend was so dismissive of my excitement and desire to do so many things - it's simply not the type of lifestyle that would work for him.  

I started with this line of inquiry because those who inspired me the most were creatives who did not just one, but many jobs - people who pursued which ever lines of interest they fancied without worrying about stepping outside of their comfort zone. I have often felt like a frustrated polymath; I feel like taking my photography studies more seriously, or producing my own short film, but until this point I've always chosen not to. Why? Perhaps the fear of spreading myself too thinly, the fear getting distracted from acting and not being able to turn back, but perhaps also the fear of others judgement. With so much negativity directed towards them, it's little wonder many potential polymaths, who thrive on nurturing multiple interests, are feeling beaten down and discouraged, persuaded that 'it won't work out', that it's impossible to live a non-specialist life.

So far during this inquiry, I have met some fascinating people who are proving to me that it is entirely possible to embrace yourself as 'multi-faceted'. And attitudes thankfully do seem to be changing - now that my eyes are open to it, I seem to see articles and programmes about polymaths everywhere I turn. I've seen them described as 'slashies', 'portfolio workers', 'renaissance people', 'scanners'...the list goes on. I am of course still investigating and inquiring, and juggling multiple interests is certainly not plain sailing, but I would say, if you have an inkling to design your own range of dancewear alongside performing, or a burning desire to spend your weekends making documentary films, don't let the negativity stop you trying!    

       

Writing to Reflect within my SIG...

I just wanted to share something that I have found really useful this week. We've been thinking about ways to reflect, and the usefulness of reflection in our professional practise, since the beginning of the BAPP course. This week, with one of my SIGs, we've been playing around with ways to reflect though writing.

I currently have a 'day job' to pay the bills, where a lot of my co-workers are also performers. We all have various specialisms and things which differentiate us, but equal amounts of shared interests. As I currently spend a lot of time with these people, it seemed perfectly natural that they should become one of my SIGs...and I really value sharing ideas with them about the performing industry and our place within it.

As BAPP'ers, we've all been keeping journals for some time now, and they have been invaluable for me. Keeping a journal has helped me to think much more deeply about how I see my professional practise evolving. I also find that it helps me to organise and consolidate my thoughts, as I am usually a person who has many ideas and thoughts flying around my head. It can be difficult to see the wood from the trees without a structured outlet for my reflection.

Sometimes, do we avoid dwelling on the things which we perhaps most need to consider, because they confuse or upset us? I know that in general, as a learner, I am often guilty of focusing on those areas or skills in which I know I can easily and quickly achieve success, when really I should perhaps be working on my weakest points. One of my SIG members is aiming to produce a verbatim theatre project, which she is so passionate about, but she admits that explaining/justifying her project for the purposes of funding applications is difficult for her. As an exercise, I suggested she write a reflective piece thinking about why verbatim theatre is sometimes better than a documentary format. She found having to articulate her thoughts immensely useful, and I saw the benefit of setting structured writing projects.

She then suggested I write a reflective piece about which 'day-jobs' I have found the most helpful and conducive to success as a performer. It was really stimulating and sometimes asking others within our network to set the writing topic can give us a fresh insight into what we might need. I think this is something we will continue within my SIG - it's amazing the new thoughts that crop up, and fantastic writing experience, especially for those who are less used to communicating in written format. Writing in a clear, concise and persuasive manner is key to academic success, so I would whole-heartedly recommend this exercise as a chance to practise your skills!

Why not get a BAPP student, SIG member, or your academic adviser to set you a couple of topics for a reflective writing 'mini-project'? I'd love to hear about how others are using writing, or any other methods to reflect....

Analysing Data - some useful resources...

Until now, I have felt quite happy plodding along along with my research. Every week has lead me to new literature which I find interesting, or exciting conversations with my SIGs and professional community. I have found I have been rapidly forming new ideas and thinking on much deeper level about what it means to be a 'polymath' and what different people get out of it. (For anyone not familiar, my research is looking at 'creative polymaths', so for example actors who also direct or write, and the impact this has on their career and fulfillment levels).

However, thinking is not enough! It is now time to think in a more structured and academic way about exactly how we should analyse data - in my case mostly qualitative data. As I have carried out quite a few interviews and participant observation, I have a mountain of data to analyse. I know I want to categorise by theme - at the moment I'm browsing for useful information which will help me refine my analysis techniques and identify why certain approaches will suit me better than others. I thought I would share them in case anyone else might find them useful.

Useful Resources....

• Check out this video, made by Paula. In it she talks about the difference between opinion and interpretation, which was a good reminder for me. Of course, we all come to our research with a set of ideas and experiences, and inevitable preconceptions. However in academic research analysis, interpretations must be informed my the data gathered - we must be able to 'prove' where our findings came from. Paula's Video - Questions about analysis

• Ahmet Ahmet's blog post Mason 2002: Critical Reflection was a great introduction for me into some of the best methods of analysing data, taken from one of Jennifer Mason's books about qualitative research. It's a great post to read if you're feeling stuck on how to begin catagorising and organising all this data you have collected.

• I found this youtube presentation really helpful - it's title "I've got some interview data! What next?". For me it was a great introduction into how to begin 'coding' and finding themes within your data.

 

I think these three resources are a great starting point for thinking about how to analyse qualitative data - please do share more resources that you've found useful, whether books, talks, pictures etc. I love to hear about them!

Artefact Brainstorming....

Time is ticking on...and I feel I do not yet have a clear idea of what my artefact will be. As an investigative and reflective tool, I've decided to do a 'brainstorm blog' today about what form my professional artefact might take.

Jo Clarke and Simone have both blogged about an exercise they did on campus, using visual art as a stimulus for artefact ideas. This really struck a chord with me - as performers, I would hazard a guess that our peers and colleagues tend to be mostly visual or kinesthetic learners. Something we explored way back in module one. For a lot of us, the BAPP course has been our first experience of studying academically at university level, and we may have spent a good deal of time getting our heads around how to write 'academically' and use citations properly etc.

When creating our artefacts, we need to let go of that academic mindset, and think about:

• Who our audience are....
• What type of communication best suits their needs....
• What form will benefit them the most?... 

Again, I have Simone to thank for pointing me in the direction of a great comment from Adesola:

You would be looking at the artefact ....in a format that people at the television station would understand, or people in the dance world would expect and understand. Just as the written paper is the format that university people understand. Each place has a slightly different language and different forms of presentation. (Adesola, 2013)

Adesola is right, every workplace or professional network has it's own jargon, patterns, ways of communicating. So I must decide....

Who are my audience? 

I'm tempted to say 'all actors'; my research findings might be potentially interesting to any actor considering 'polymathy'. Perhaps it may then also be useful for dancers, or musicians? As passionate as I am about spreading the word, I don't want to risk 'diluting' the information or generalising too much, or having to choose an artefact format that is 'for everyone, and therefore no-one'.

After considering aiming my research at graduates, brand new to the industry, I feel instead it would be better to focus on actors more like myself, who have had a few years to discover what satisfies and dis-satisfies them about their career. In this sense, I feel I am quite a typical example of my target audience, which is great, as I can use my own knowledge and resources to inform my choice of artefact.

What are my limitations?

I have been talking quite a lot on the blogs about a certain frustration; as my participants are going to be anonymous, I do not have the option of using exciting multi-media tools in the way I might like to. I love the documentary format, for example, and I think it would serve my inquiry topic well, giving my audience an easy to access insight into the lives of 'polymaths'. I was inspired by BAPP student Corinda Hall's use of this format, but sadly when I explored the possibility of filming my participants, they were very hesitant. So....onwards and upwards, I had to rule that out as an option as of course I cannot compromise my ethical plan. Simone made these points that helped me think about the positives:

Obviously the status of the source can be far more influential, but can you not reveal where they are from? The work they do? Any achievements? Without fully revealing their identity? (Grandjean, 2013)

Simone's observations led me to thinking about the 'case study' format - I can say a great deal about my participants and describe their situation, without revealing their identities. Perhaps my artefact could take the form of a short book, breaking up the main text with case studies. I certainly find this a more digestible and interesting way of reading than page after page of solid text.

Options...

So.... here is a quick list of options I have come up with so far, that do not require the use of my participants image or voice.

• Book. (A career development book for actors considering polymathy - the main text would be broken up by case studies).
• Verbal Presentation (I could design a verbal presentation or workshop, to be presented to groups of actors, as a career development tool).
• Newspaper/online Column (A weekly column documenting the lives of polymaths and offering mixed opinions on the lifestyle).

I'm pleased to say I feel there is potential in all of my current possibilites....each format has it's pros and cons. I don't perceive any particular difficulties with communicating with my target audience, but perhaps I would be likely to reach more people if I choose one of the formats that I can post online. At the moment, I am drawn towards a 'column' style approach, or a TED style video talk. I still read books, but am finding myself using online resources more and more often. I also like the idea that an online column or blog can be commented on, creating a web of ideas, which could then be expanded on and developed with each week's column. The format of 'bitesize' articles also allows time for reflection in between each 'episode'.

What do you think? Which style most appeals?  

        

    

Act First, Reflect Later

I came across the concept of 'act first, reflect later' in Krznaric's 'How to find fulfilling work', a brilliantly thought provoking book. Many of us on the BAPP course are pursuing, or at least thinking about, some kind of change in our careers, whether that be going into teaching, setting up our own theatre companies or trying to access work in a new medium. Krzanric's focus is career change, so I find his ideas very relevant to many of us. 

Krznaric suggests that 'nearly everyone contemplating changing career is deeply anxious' (2012) and in short, that if we give ourselves too much time to think, we will never make the leap into a new career. We become paralysed by fear and dwell on the negative things that could go wrong. Krznaric mentions that for many years, the 'conventional wisdom...has been to 'plan then implement'' (2012), going through a period of deep contemplation before carefully adapting our CV and applying for jobs in the most risk-averse manner possible. Krznaric stresses that a much more successful strategy is to 'enter a much more playful way of being, where we do then think, not think then do' (2012). The books tells an inspiring story of a young woman who, feeling confused and uncertain about in which direction her working life should go, took the radical step of engaging in a year long experiment, in which she undertook no less than 30 different work placements, whilst working part-time to support herself. She compared the process to dating, in that making lists of what we want and any amount of careful planning does not necessarily help; we need to just get out there and experiment and we may be surprised by which option 'sweeps us off our feet'!  

The concept of 'act now, reflect later' takes me back to thinking about Kolb's Learning Cycle. In module one of this course, we asked questions about our learning style (see this previous blog post) and where we thought we naturally entered the cycle of learning. I identified, for example, that I am predominantly a visual learner, and that I usually begin a learning process at the reflective observation stage. I am a classic example of those people Krznaric describes 'ruminating in an armchair or poring through files' (2012)! Even when I started the course back in 2011, I realised that 'I think I could be braver when it comes to leaping in at the Active Experimentation stage' (Thomas, 2011); the same idea really as 'act now, reflect later'. Adesola suggested in a module 1 reader that we should try and play around with deviating from our natural learning pattern. If, like me, you tend to plan and reflect in depth before you take the plunge and 'do' something - try mixing it up and seeing what happens!

This doesn't of course apply only to career change, but any learning experience or process of experimentation. I did a quick brainstorm of ways I can try out 'act now, reflect' later right now, today:

• I'm making some home made soup...usually I would go online and read about 20 recipes before finally settling on one and following it to the last word. I'm going to try just using the knowledge I already have, and freestyling it without a recipe. It might not be perfect but perhaps I'll learn more from my mistakes this way!
• I have recently been looking into attending a workshop at 'The School of Life' - but they do so many that look interesting I have been paralysed by indecision. Instead of researching for hours and weighing up the pros and cons I'm just going to go for it and sign up to one today.
• I'd like to get in to exercising again after a long break from it; I seem to have every leaflet on every class and facility for miles around, but again, I have been paralysed by indecision. Instead of all this reading and research - I should just start trying classes and experiment through action. Starting today! 

I'd love to hear anyone else's stories of 'act now, reflect later' - what are the benefits and disadvantages of learning in this way?

The power of TED....

I've been familiar with the TED 'Ideas worth spreading' website for a while, but until now hadn't really thought of using it as a resource for this course. I think Paula recently shared a TED video that she found interesting and that got me thinking; I'm so glad she did as I've been amazed at what a wealth of information and ideas can be found on there.

Anyone who hasn't yet come across this site - I definitely recommend you check it out. You can search for virtually any topic and find inspiring talks by a huge range of thinkers and academics on just about anything.

www.ted.com

A lot of the BAPP course has been focused on encouraging us to use new technology, and web based tools in our research. TED is a great example of this - if you're looking for quotes or literature about your chosen subject, have a look, and if you find a speaker who's ideas inspire you, you can then take that further and see what else they might have said or written. It's a fantastic starting point.

I enjoyed watching this talked entitled 'Be an artist: Right now!'



I'd love to hear your comments and whether anyone else uses TED.