I’m going to take a step back to the first Becoming Polymathic piece: the introductory “Why BP” email. Those of you registered will know what piece I’m referring to. Those of you who are not will see it when you do. Shameless plug over, we return to the piece.
The First Becoming Polymathic Piece
The introduction is a story of me being interested in many things, but ultimately failing to pursue them deeply. It was in the process of my last venture, an SEO marketing agency targeting senior living communities, I was first introduced to the polymaths. It was a group I desired to join. I coupled my findings to my affinity for writing, and here we are. What we will be examining today is the cycles which preempted my early failures. But first, another story.
An Old Friend Reaches Out
I had an old colleague recently message me asking if my company was hiring. I’m particularly close to him. We were literally and figuratively in the trenches trying to build a hospital in Utah, which ultimately drove us out of the Beehive State and onto the next stages of our careers. His next stage was a similar role with a different construction company, whereas mine was a completely different one with a technology consulting firm.
Over the course of our conversation, I asked him if he ever considered leaving the construction industry given his dissatisfaction. His response was a definitive “hell yes”, but he wasn’t yet willing to given his tenure and the specific skill sets he’d developed. I agreed it would be a very difficult move, but also one worth making. At a minimum, I told him to consider it given he still has 40-50 years of his career left and it would be worth pursuing something of which he had genuine interest.
The Process of Developing Interests
The process of developing interest has long intrigued me, and I’m glad this convergence of past and present gave me the opportunity to dive deeper. To build on my earlier statement, developing interest is a combination of external, environmental factors and internal, neurological processes.
Sparking One’s Interests
When I use the word “environmental”, what I’m referring to is our external world: our friends, family, locale, career, etc. It is these factors which give us the “sparks” of interest which we either build upon or let die. Literally speaking, they are new neural connections forming when new ideas are connected to old, and further connecting to other related ideas.
That’s well and good, but how do we generate these “sparks”? Unfortunately, there is no way to guarantee them. It’s impossible to predict who or what will intrigue us. We can, however, consistently place ourselves in novel settings where they’re more likely to occur. Using technical jargon, we position ourselves to enable triggered situational interest.
The Four Phase Model of Interest Development
Triggered situational interest is the first phase of the Four Phase Model of Interest Development. The Four Phase Model was a learning development model published by educational psychologists Suzanne Hidi and Ann Renninger in 2006. The phases are as follows:
- Triggered Situational Interest
- Maintained Situational Interest
- Emerging Individual Interest
- Well-Developed Individual Interest
As an individual progresses through these phases, they are transitioning from primarily extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is well-documented as the primary driver of sustained personal growth. While this model may seem rudimentary, there are powerful, complex neurological forces underpinning it.
The Neuroscience of Developing Interests
These neurological forces are located in the mid-brain area. This area is where you will find the seeking system, also known as the brain’s dopamine production center. When stimulated, this area becomes extremely active and, as its nickname indicates, begins to release dopamine. The specific part of the mid-brain releasing dopamine is the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA).
This dopamine follows two pathways – the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopamine pathways. The mesolimbic pathway travels within the mid-brain and evaluates the significance of the external input. The mesocortical pathway travels to the outer (cortical) part of our brain where the motor centers reside and associates the dopamine release with a particular set of actions.
The Dopamine Feedback Loop
When these two pathways are repeatedly stimulated, they form a feedback loop which engrains these dopaminergic behaviors into the brain. Repeated stimulation is also where the aforementioned environmental factors come into play. In simple terms, that “spark” needs to be acted on for it to become an interest, and then acted on more to become something greater. The Four Phases do a thorough job of outlining what needs to happen at each phase for interest to progress.
How Communities Help Advance Individual Interest
For situational interest to become individual interest, the individual first needs to feel his or her actions are being valued by the community. This feeling of value then needs to drive the individual to ask more specific questions, which the community must answer to maintain the individual’s curiosity.
Curiosity stimulated, the individual then needs to internalize and place a unique value on this interest, which is where the extrinsic motivation transitions to intrinsic. When this flash of intrinsic motivation begins to show, the community’s job transitions to one of challenging the individual to dive deeper.
Sustained challenge will, theoretically, cause the individual to continue his or her pursuit for purely intrinsic reasons. That is how we arrive at the final phase – Well-Developed Intrinsic Motivation. In other words, purpose.
It is paramount to understand the first step in this multi-faceted process is to position ourselves for it to occur. We need to novelty. That means constantly placing ourselves in new situations where our brain has no choice but to adapt and grow. As mentioned early, I cannot predict where or when these “sparks” will occur, but I can definitively state they will not occur if you are not pursuing new experiences.
New experiences are what keep us alive. They provide us with the necessary mystery which allows life to be more than mere survival. The more of them you have, the younger at heart you will remain, for there are fewer joys greater than discovering something new…
Be More.
Become Polymathic
Quote of the Week: “The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years, but the one with the richest experiences.” – Jean Jacques Rousseau