Learn to Pursue All Your Dreams in ‘How To Be Everything’ [REVIEW]

According to Emilie Wapnick, you can be everything you wanted to be when you grew up. (Photo by jdolenga, Flickr)

Remember how everyone used to ask you what you wanted to be when you grew up? As a child I wanted to be a teacher, a nurse, and an astronaut. I didn’t become any of those things, obviously, but perhaps that’s because like so many people, I was taught that I had to settle for one occupation for the rest of my life. In her new book, How to Be Everything, Emilie Wapnick teaches us that we no longer have to choose. 

HarperOne

When I first met my husband, I realized he had more creativity in his pinkie then I had in my entire being. I truly loved this about him. While many people couldn’t understand how he could be talented in so many different ways, some folks said he should just pick one thing and stick with it. I just wanted him to be happy and pursue his dreams. Now, having read Wapnick’s book, I have more insight into how my husband’s mind works and why he has so many varied interests.

Here, Wapnick provides the framework that helps a multipotentialite (a person with many interests and creative pursuits) to feel truly free and unencumbered. She helps them shirk off conventional wisdom and influence, and live their lives on their own terms. She also reminds us that everyone’s path is unique to each individual, and that we shouldn’t compare people to others or demand that they should be pursuing something just because someone else thinks they should.

Finally, Wapnick teaches us about the four work models:  Group Hug, Slash Approach, Einstein Approach, and the Phoenix Approach. Similar to the DiSC Personality Test, this book helps us understand not only our own needs, but it provides insight into all the various ways multipotentialites work. This is empowering and enlightening information that will transform how you interact with others in the workplace.

If you’re looking for new ways to build your EQ (emotional intelligence), Emilie Wapnick’s How to Be Everything is a vital volume to add to your library. It may even remind you of some of the dreams you shelved somewhere along the line and prompt you to dust them off and try them on for size once again.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emilie Wapnick
(Photo by William Anthony)

Emilie Wapnick is a speaker, career coach, blogger, and community leader. She is the founder and creative director at Puttylike.com, where she helps multipotentialites integrate all their interests to create dynamic, fulfilling, and fruitful careers and lives.

Unable to settle on a single path, Emilie studied music, art, film production, and law, graduating from the Law Faculty at McGill University in 2011.

Emilie is a TED speaker and has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, The Financial Times, The Huffington Post, and Lifehacker. Her TED talk, “Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling,” has been viewed over 3.5 million times, and has been translated into 36 languages.

She has been hired as a guest speaker and workshop facilitator at universities, high schools, and organizations across the United States and internationally.

Visit Emilie at her home on the Web, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

HOW TO BE EVERYTHING: A GUIDE FOR THOSE WHO (STILL) DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY WANT TO BE WHEN THEY GROW UP
By Emilie Wapnick
240 pgs. HarperOne. $24.99

You may purchase this book at one of these fine online retailers: HarperCollins, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.

How to Be Everything is brought to you in association with TLC Book Tours.

p.s. Want more inspiration? Watch Emilie’s TED talk, “Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling,” below.