Do you know someone who is highly creative, explores new situations, makes links in various directions, and gets lost in different thoughts until everything becomes clear and coherent? If so, they might be a multipotential talent.
Multipotential talents thrive on novelty, brainstorming, change, and constant learning. They’re also innovative, highly flexible, and passionate about missions of diversity.
Many professionals from the personal and professional development sectors are multipotential talents, but some aren’t aware of their potential because it’s not a “hot topic.” However, multipotential talents face unique challenges that can make life and work difficult, and one of the most pressing is imposter syndrome.
Feeling “fraudy”
Imposter syndrome is when an individual doubts their abilities and feels like a fraud. This phenomenon regularly manifests in multipotentials, creatives, and the highly competent.
As sensitive and highly empathetic people, multipotentials experience imposter syndrome acutely – struggling with crippling self-doubt, a sense of inadequacy, burnout, exhaustion, and even depression, which is why it’s critical to support them through it.
What to do
Here are some ways to help change the brain’s neural pathways and help to nurture multipotential talents using neuroscience:
- Accept that you have different purposes in your life, embrace the flow, and become aware of imposter syndrome and the thoughts it churns up.
- Confront the disempowering thoughts of imposter syndrome and explore how those thoughts impact you.
- Embrace your cognitive dissonance and emotional discomfort because these feelings help you revise your limiting beliefs to ultimately remind yourself of past achievements and accomplishments. I recommend reading Emotional Agility by Susan David to learn how to do this.
- Devalue the significance of the negative thoughts and get into a growth mindset, even if it’s a fixed one. You can read the book Mindset by Carol Dweck to get more insight into this step.
- Vocally encourage yourself to keep going and balance your emotional reactions to become more aware and agile. It’s almost like dancing with your emotions!
- Take action despite self-doubt. This will boost your subconscious influence and help you deal with disempowering thoughts without even thinking about them. You can read Before You Know It by John Bargh for more insight.
- Seek the help of a professional who will help you create a blueprint for neural change, preparing you to lead a purposeful and empowered life where you can excel and feel good about it.
Repeating this pattern changes the brain's neuroplasticity, ultimately shifting how a person thinks over time.
About the author
I’m Dorothée Oung, Executive Coach and Neuroleadership Expert. I work with senior leaders and executive teams to apply neuroscience in practical, results-driven ways. My goal is to guide emerging and established Neuroleaders through deliberate, evidence-based practices that elevate how they lead, think and show up in the world.
