Can I narrow down my interests and find my true passion as a philomath?

[Anithadhruvbud]

I seem to be good at many things and I am interested in many things.How do I discard few options in my interest list and find one thing that perfectly suits me when all the interests seem to be equally enjoyable for me?
I know it's an hypothetical question.Let me see who gathers enough courage to give a good answer to this.

 

[fresh_42]

Don't rank what you enjoy, rank what you want to know.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesw...s-passion-and-a-career-you-love/#686d91741d8b

1. When You Know It’s Not Working, Quit Fast
2. Follow Your Curiosity
3. Don’t Make Money Your Primary Consideration
4. Don’t Set An Artificial Ceiling For Yourself

You can read that link, it shows a lot of common examples and ideas I also have in mind and probably even in your own current situation.

 

[Anithadhruvbud]

Don't rank what you enjoy, rank what you want to know.

Well,what I want to know is governed by what I am interested in.and my interests are too many.I want to do so much but I have very less time.That's the reason I am trying to find one interest that perfectly suits me.

 

[S.G. Janssens]

@Silicon Waffle, why did you just remove your post? I was about to reply that I found what you wrote very true, particularly the first paragraph.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Because I thought no one would want to read it. I find having a lot of interests at the same time is always better than having just one or two. People with the latter look disciplined and usually are not very well-informed about the diversity of life and nature. This can be mostly found among young people.

 

[S.G. Janssens]

Because I thought no one would want to read it. I find having a lot of interests at the same time is always better than having just one or two. People with the latter look disciplined and usually are not very well-informed about the diversity of life and nature. This can be mostly found among young people.

Maybe I didn't read you carefully then, because what I got was that there is also a danger to not making choices: If things get hard with one interest, it becomes tempting to seek refuge with another interest instead of trying to solve the difficulties.

My apologies if I misread you.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Maybe I didn't read you carefully then, because what I got was that there is also a danger to not making choices: If things get hard with one interest, it becomes tempting to seek refuge with another interest instead of trying to solve the difficulties.
My apologies if I misread you.

Almost, but your wording may mislead readers with my intent (e.g avoid difficulties, run away attitude, responsibility). The idea was that, if you have an ordered number of interested items (e.g A,B,C) and you run into difficulties in item A at some point in time in A, your enthusiasm to work on A reduces and you may feel that you would want to work with B or C then.
Do you know the consequences of a long wait in an imaginary queue ?

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Also, unless the OP is living in a 1st world country where food resources, wars, conflicts etc are not primary concerns in life, then foods on the table and money are the first things to go for instead of categorizing or prioritizing his interests.

 

[S.G. Janssens]

Do you know the consequences of a long wait in an imaginary queue ?

If waiting means: being stuck with A while actually wishing to work on B or C, I suppose this could cause demotivation.
If it means: A is temporarily moved to the end of the queue while we change to working on B or C, I suppose it could lead to a lot of inefficiency and waste of energy, because at some point we will have to resume the work on A, which requires becoming familiar with it once again.

Also, unless the OP is living in a 1st world country where food resources, wars, conflicts etc are not primary concerns in life, then foods on the table and money are the first things to go for instead of categorizing or prioritizing his interests.

I live in a first world country, but I have to confess that I found it very satisfying when I received my first salary for doing research (in my case: sitting behind a desk and thinking), just because apparently someone was willing to pay me for this activity.

 

[Hornbein]

I seem to be good at many things and I am interested in many things.How do I discard few options in my interest list and find one thing that perfectly suits me when all the interests seem to be equally enjoyable for me?
I know it's an hypothetical question.Let me see who gathers enough courage to give a good answer to this.

I think the idea of the perfect job/career is an urban myth peddled for profit. It's like the "soul mate" foma. Real life is about doing the best you can under the circumstances.

If all interests are equally enjoyable then choose the one that pays the best. Should you ever start a family that will come in handy.

 

[Anithadhruvbud]

I think the idea of the perfect job/career is an urban myth peddled for profit. It's like the "soul mate" foma. Real life is about doing the best you can under the circumstances.

If all interests are equally enjoyable then choose the one that pays the best. Should you ever start a family that will come in handy.

Pays the best? Run behind money? Do a passion for money?

 

[Hornbein]

Pays the best? Run behind money? Do a passion for money?

You're the one that said "EQUALLY ENJOYABLE." You got to have some criteria.

That's my recommendation. Take it or leave it.

 

[fresh_42]

Well,what I want to know is governed by what I am interested in.and my interests are too many.I want to do so much but I have very less time.That's the reason I am trying to find one interest that perfectly suits me.

The point is and you can find it in @Silicon Waffle's list, too, is curiosity. IMO this is the most important aspect, for it keeps you from escaping due to reasons noted in the other posts and it keeps you interested. Another aspect to consider is that your list may overlap in parts, e.g. you won't be able to be a good physicist without mathematical abilities, or a chemist without physics.
Whatever it will be, it probably will be a marathon: you get quickly started full of energy but after 10 miles you will have to fight the fact things (to understand, learn etc) don't come as easy anymore. You should be prepared for this part of the race! Curiosity is one mean to deal with it.

 

[OrangeDog]

Personally I think the best way to find your passion is just to try things. I don't think it is something you have full control over...like love..as silly as that may sound. Afterall, when you go on a first date with someone you don't expect to fall in love with them and marry them. I feel it is the same way in this regard. Just acquire new experiences and don't pass judgment on what you think you may or may not like.

 

[Anithadhruvbud]

Personally I think the best way to find your passion ito try things. I don't think it is something you have full control over...like love..as silly as that may sound. Afterall, when you go on a first date with someone you don't expect to fall in love with them and marry them. I feel it is the same way in this regard. Just acquire new experiences and don't pass judgment on what you think you may or may not like.

Perfectly true,Mr orangedog.I probably should go try out things and acquire new experiences rather than thinking about it.The problem is which one to try first.I have a list of interests,where to start with or what to experience first? or should I bunch altogether and do it at the same time?

 

[OrangeDog]

Flip a coin, roll a dice, ask a friend, it doesn't matter.

 

[CynicusRex]

Don't rank what you enjoy, rank what you want to know.

I fully agree. The link directly beneath is a more elaborate version of the statement above. It made me rethink my life. It starts like this: A wise MIT student once told me, "Don't confuse what you love with what you're good at."...
https://www.quora.com/Should-I-study-what-I-want-to-study-or-what-Im-good-at/answer/Erick-Pinos?srid=X9I6&share=1

Also, I've collected a whole bunch of articles related to this topic. Without further ado:

http://blog.deepastronomy.com/2011/11/want-to-study-astronomy-but-cant-do.html
http://www.deepastronomy.com/how-i-overcame-my-math-blocks.html
http://fledglingphysicist.com/2013/12/12/if-susan-can-learn-physics-so-can-you/comment-page-1/
http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.be/2010/02/confessions-of-limited-working-memory.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2015/04/07/alex-garland-ex-machina/25372679/
http://mkaku.org/home/articles/so-you-want-to-become-a-physicist/
http://tinybuddha.com/blog/try-this-if-youre-struggling-to-find-your-passion/
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219709
https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-know-if-youve-discovered-your-passion?redirected_qid=1642048
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/why-creativity-is-a-numbers-game/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_bloomer
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids1/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0132477/?ref_=nv_sr_1

You can learn anything!

You can grow new brain cells:

How to learn anything:

The woman who changed her brain:

Feats of memory anyone can do:

Is anything real?:

Growing your mind:

Your ability to learn is not fixed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8
Your genes are not your fate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_VdcDJAlWQ

Enjoy! :)

 

[meBigGuy]

Are you speaking in terms of choosing a lifestyle (outdoors, country, city, rugged, lazy, comfortable) or an intellectual discipline (gamer, student, writer, designer, researcher)? Or choose between passtimes (Hiking, mountain climbing, biking, )
You want to be a prospector? Fisherman? Guide?

The secret to finding your passion is to follow your passion. Do what challenges you and yet provides the satisfaction of completion/accomplishment.

Part of success is failing, so don't waste too much time choosing. Just do what comes naturally. Follow your instincts.
Your emotional response to the alternatives contains more wisdom that you may realize.
I heard one way to tap the subconscious for decisions is to flip a coin to decide and then choose based on your emotional reaction to the results.

The story is that it take 10,000 hours of structured practice to become world class. The only way you will ever spend 10000 hours is to be doing something you love (and are good at).

 

[jw6661]

u need to talk to 40 somethings 50 somethings. and ask em how they came to their career choices

 

[OrangeDog]

u need to talk to 40 somethings 50 somethings. and ask em how they came to their career choices

Most people make those kind of choices because they are lazy and end up regretting it. How many people do you know truly love their job? Talk to people who are happy in their situation.

 

[jw6661]

looks like orangedog, u r in the quagmire/predicament:

more u know less u know.

to help u figure out how u got here:

einstein quote: if u follow the crowd u will likely never go further than the crowd go alone and u will go where no one has been

or to quote jfk who quoted walt whitman?
'i chose the path less traveled and it has made all the difference'... and yes he was assassinated.maybe u don't talk to enough artist. they all love what they do. and would never trade it in for the world. they chose the path less traveled. funny how most presidents were writers, saxophone men, or musicians, or painters, or actors. or Renaissance men which is an artform itself. even 43 became a painter after his presidency

 

[CynicusRex]

Most people make those kind of choices because they are lazy and end up regretting it. How many people do you know truly love their job? Talk to people who are happy in their situation.

It's not because they were lazy. Not everyone has educated parents who provide excellent guidance. Same goes for education itself. I dropped out of two different studies because at 18 I had 0 idea on how the real world worked and what it meant to have a job.
I was a true nerd who loved studying at 14 but was raised into laziness due to a myriad of reasons. It's only this late I realized I can decide for myself. It has nothing to do with being inherently lazy. If your grandparents raised your parents 'badly', your parents will likely make the same mistakes.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Most people make those kind of choices because they are lazy and end up regretting it. How many people do you know truly love their job? Talk to people who are happy in their situation.

I think I only have true love for my lover, not for work. I love him to the moon, as always!
I don't think I have this kind of love for the work I am doing.
When people make their complaints public, they are ready to leave their companies. So most of the time you won't know whether or not people in front of you truly love their work.
And I advise them to seek consults from different older people with wide-ranged knowledge and experience in life. Maybe those on PF .

 

[Choppy]

It may also be worth mentioning that being happy in a career actually has a lot less to do with the details of the career itself and a lot more on a person's own choices and outlook.

It's very dangerous to get caught in the "I'll be happy when..." trap or the the "I'll only be happy if..." trap. The fact of the matter is that one can be happy doing just about any career if one so choses. One can also be happy while on the journey towards a given career goal. And one can be happy if the initial goal is not achieved.

Finding a passion when one has a broad array of interests comes down to ownership. You take the opportunities you can, but when faced with multiple options that can't all be fully explored, you have to make the best decision you can and then deal with the consequences. Yes, this means that you may not optimize your personal circumstances and you may have regrets in hindsight. But this is the case for everyone, and really it's how life works.

 

[jw6661]

Life is too short. Be happy!

 

[Rubidium_71]

What elicits a visceral reaction in the core of your being? What activity gives you genuine pleasure when you work on it?

 

[jim hardy]

I suggest you read "Spoon River Anthology" by Edgar Lee Masters. It's a collection of reflections on life looking back from its terminus . (Yes, really)I most identified with Fiddler Jones

60. Fiddler Jones THE EARTH keeps some vibration going
There in your heart, and that is you.
And if the people find you can fiddle,
Why, fiddle you must, for all your life.
What do you see, a harvest of clover?
Or a meadow to walk through to the river?
The wind’s in the corn; you rub your hands
For beeves hereafter ready for market;
Or else you hear the rustle of skirts
Like the girls when dancing at Little Grove.
To Cooney Potter a pillar of dust
Or whirling leaves meant ruinous drouth;
They looked to me like Red-Head Sammy
Stepping it off, to “Toor-a-Loor.”
How could I till my forty acres
Not to speak of getting more,
With a medley of horns, bassoons and piccolos
Stirred in my brain by crows and robins
And the creak of a wind-mill—only these?
And I never started to plow in my life
That some one did not stop in the road
And take me away to a dance or picnic.
I ended up with forty acres;
I ended up with a broken fiddle—
And a broken laugh, and a thousand memories,
And not a single regret.

I've had some Cooney Potter friends

59. Cooney Potter I INHERITED forty acres from my Father
And, by working my wife, my two sons and two daughters
From dawn to dusk, I acquired
A thousand acres. But not content,
Wishing to own two thousand acres,
I bustled through the years with axe and plow,
Toiling, denying myself, my wife, my sons, my daughters.
Squire Higbee wrongs me to say
That I died from smoking Red Eagle cigars.
Eating hot pie and gulping coffee
During the scorching hours of harvest time
Brought me here ere I had reached my sixtieth year.

courtesy http://www.bartleby.com/84/59.html

indeed i have acquired more memories than wealth.See also "You Can't Take It With You"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Can't_Take_It_with_You_(film)

 

[couragerolls]

https://www.ted.com/talks/emilie_wapnick_why_some_of_us_don_t_have_one_true_calling
:) I feel ya! Do watch this. It won't help much , but she feels you too! :)

 

[CynicusRex]

I enjoyed her talk and it felt rather nice to see this was actually a thing. However, multipotentialite, it sounds so wannabe. I prefer philomath.