Or in other words an “Innovation Polymath”.
What does a PolyInnovator Mean?
First and foremost it means to be innovative, have a vast skill set, and be willing to #makeachange. That could be a change in your own life via #self-development, or in the world.
It All Starts with the Global Purpose
Think of the most inspirational speech you’ve ever heard. Think of the constant tide of the water on the beach being pulled by the tide of the moon’s gravity, and how the ever reaching galaxy pulls our entire solar system around itself.
That simple moment of metaphysical delight is something that gets me thinking about the dramatic thought of existing. Our life is one in a trillion trillion chance of happening. Each person is literally a miracle, and we act as if we are guaranteed a life. However we are not, and the prospect of making use of the one we have has escaped many people’s minds.
This very dangerous mindset of leaving the gratitude out of our daily existence causes most of the population to be unhappy. This is not okay, for we have a great potential. Going back to the cosmic scale, let us look at where Earth is right now. We are in the spiral arm of a medium sized galaxy, one of a vast amount in a “local cluster”, along with a large plethora more in the cosmic web of the visible universe.
We are simply a blue dot that is going to poof out of existence in just a few billion years, but what of it now? What can we do to make it our home just a bit more? Well for one like Elon Musk says become a multi-planetary species. One thing I find to be my north star just like that one is to him, is that before we can ever hope to colonize another planet; We need to establish a well defined, and peaceful global civilization. A Type-1 on the kardashev scale.
That is my Global goal and intent to put out in the world. Ideally be one of the people that helps accomplish that feat, if not the person who inspires the next generation to do so too.
What is a Polymath?
A polymath is someone with a mastery over many areas, from what I can tell at least three. However mastery takes around 10 years if you look at the “Outliers” scale. There is the 20 hour rule, where you can have a basic understanding of a skill. Find some range in between such as 6 years, you can be proficient in half a dozen skills. Making you a true jack of all trades.
What I find to be most appealing from being one is the ability to mash up different areas in a magical synergy. One of true innovation.
Not just taking one idea and translating for a different field, but that of COMBINING those fields. Nanotechnology, Bio-technology, and Innovation/Project Management.
What Does it Mean to Work in Innovation?
Innovation has a lot of sectors, and relatively a poor establishment for coordinating the levels of innovations. As well as organizing the people in need of it, with the ones who are able to so. I know there are some companies out there aiming to rectify that, however not on the scale that is needed.
The global economy needs a massive overhaul, and the idea of money is greatly complicating the world’s assets. Not in a good way mind you. Having some chaos or complications is often good for growth, even at the global scale. However we need a more simplistic system, so that our innovations in the long run can be made more simply.
Working in innovation takes a person of multiple skills, and allows them to work with a group of people. Say on a project, and dynamically work with each individual systematically to improve the overall performance. Think Kanban, Scrum, or Agile, but in the sense that it can happen in any field. Not just the business and technology sectors.
Changing Your Mindset
Remember all the dark days of humanity’s past, from the wars to famines.
Remember what all the great days that has been before us. Find the balance and the reasons why they happened. Hopefully that can lead us to creating new ones.
Your own personal mindset may only impact those around you, but things spread like wildfire. Any sort of hate speech, grandiose, or negativity will spread to those around you. Then to those around them, and it just pays it forward in all the wrong ways.
Conversely if you spread compassion, change your mindset to a positive one, be proactive instead of reactive. Then we can exponentially send out a positive growth mindset to everyone around.
Creating a Place of/for Polymath’s
I created a brand last year, or rather a company, based around the idea of inspiring “World Unity Through Self-Development” with the use of philosophy.
PHILOSOPHY | WORLD UNITY | SELF-DEVELOPMENT
Were always the tags I’d use, especially in the sense that they all interrelated in the fields they represent. “Leaders, Uniters, and Creators” Are the three tiers I used to describe what I then called a “PolyULCian”, each tier were “ULCIans”.
It ended up needing to be put on the side burner for a few reason. Firstly I burned out hard in December, to the point where I stopped doing everything. I don’t think I ever had that in my life that bad. I got over it slowly in January/February.
Secondly I started focusing more on my own Self-Dev, allowing me to create a “D.I.Y. Degree or Do It Yourself Degree”.
Lastly, ever since I started the company, I wanted to create it as a platform. First online then a physical structure, however I need to build my skills and influence. Meaning I needed to work on my personal brand/reputation.
From Polymath to PolyInnovator
Hold close to the foundations of a well balanced life. Cherish the moments of failure, as they are the greatest lessons.
This picture here is quite important, it was one of the first pieces of content I made for my personal brand. Allowing me to visualize the creative aspect behind what I needed to create, though I just needed to get my hands dirty. Meaning get into the hustle and grind, and get my life hunkered down into the work.
This is where PolyInnovator was born.
The Path to Becoming One
In order to pursue something that is so unprecedented, then it takes an extraordinary learning process.
The D.I.Y. Modular Degree
I took my path to be a self-education route, but I am curious to see if a traditional education could work for another person. If their learning style would use the vast assets available when in school to get an innovative experience.
This idea of creating your own degree has been around for a while, but as more time goes on it gets more and more viable. The rise of Massively Open Online Courses, and Open Course Ware, has lead to a dramatic rise in online education resources.
I curated a list of over 400 courses, let alone articles/books/sites, all to pursue a much more grand education.
One then Three Marketable Skills
The point of being a polymath is that you are not a specialist. That is a simple statement, but when learning your knowledge base it is imperative to remember often. As you need to bring yourself swaths of information, keep up to date in multiple areas. Honestly I find it to be fun, but I can see how that all might seem hard.
Taking everything in and using that new knowledge in one area to innovate in another. Using synergy of ideas as your primary tool.
All in All
The true methodology is one of a synergy, for it does not matter in what areas are being combined. Just that they are being looked at and acted upon in unique and unorthodox ways.
Take the global scale to cosmic scale example again, we are looking to become a global civilization so that we can become multi-planetary. However how we go about that is completely unknown to us.
We need the creatives and the idea-makers to come up with fiction like Star Trek so that we can envision it.
We need the designers, engineers, and politicians to get things to happen and be made.
Finally we need the innovators to lead the charge, guide the individuals, as well as the world to the overall goal.
This is where a PolyInnovator will fill in the final gap. They become the person who can work with ALL levels. From the creatives to the innovators themselves. Taking everyone’s opinion and notions into account.
That is how we can accomplish such a massive feat.
