Speaker #0Hi, welcome to The Pulse, the podcast where we explore the heartbeat of life and work. I'm Julie, your host, and I'm thrilled to have you join me on this journey. Every two weeks, I will bring you a regular dose of inspiration, practical tips, and regular stories about personal development, wellness, and career growth. Whether you're looking for motivation, fresh perspective or just a reminder that you're not alone, you are in the right place. So welcome and let's dive in. Hello, hello, welcome back to The Pulse. I hope you are doing well today. We are in the middle of fall or it's the start of fall, at least in Germany where I'm located. It seems as if every October I am dealing with a bit of not a setback but a lower energy and I know I talk in the last episodes about the bare months and how to you know find a certain level of coziness and like take care of yourself but still have ways to exercise etc but I do feel every time I have done so much throughout the year that I end up in the month of October being the moments where My body and my mind are both exhausted. And I was trying to do a bit of analysis of where it's coming from. And I think when I look at the year I've had and everything that I've done, and there are a few things that I've not talked about because I don't want to until it's actually finished. But I'm completed, which I hope will be at the end of the year or early next year. So it's coming very soon. But I have taken a lot of endeavor. a lot of topics and a lot of goals throughout the year and a lot of those are related to learning, to development, to growth which is amazing but not that I took too many but maybe it was too many in a short amount of time and maybe planning to have more time may have been better and maybe it would be I would not be in the situation today of being as I said exhausted but I am feeling like I was exactly in the same space last year. Last year I was on holiday and I got sick during my holiday. So it seems that it's a bit of a pattern within me that I want to do so much and I get super excited about the year and I put some goals and some clear objective and I really want to get to that space of growth and development with a feeling of having achieved something during the year and being further advancing in my knowledge, my... like who I am as a person, basically. And while on one end it's amazing, on the other side it can be very then difficult in that moment in time. And usually I have this difficult end of September, beginning of October moment, and then sometime I feel better toward the end of the year. But then I tend to do the same pattern. And I was trying to understand where it's coming from. And one of the elements that come across in who I am as a person is being a philomath. And I'll explain to you in a minute what it is. And on one end, it's amazing. On the other side, it's very difficult sometimes. They're the goods, they're the bads of this trait of this way of being, which I still would say I appreciate, but can create that heaviness and that tiredness at some point within my year. And I tend to kind of repeat that overall. So today what I wanted to do is a bit of an episode of what it is to be a philomath, what it is about, and explain to you the goods, the bads. It's very similar, there are some relations also in terms of always wanted growth and development, no matter if it's personal or professional, so you get to know that. And I'll finish of course, as usual, by finding the balance and by saying what to do, what not to do. So of course, this is all related as usual, based on my... my knowledge what I have researched on the topic also my perspective but I would love to hear from you from your side as well so let's dive into today's episodes on being a philomath and let's see what title I put together afterwards the word philomath might be new to you and therefore I would try to explain to you in the best way I don't want to take the whole dictionary the whole etymology or whatever but it's basically philos, which is love, and matos, which is learning. So it's the love of learning overall. And being a philomath is someone that has always wanted to learn and has an intangible love of learning overall. It's someone that is always curious, that is always looking for more knowledge, new skills, new understanding, and it's open to learning more on the day-to-day, basically. It's not the same as being a good student, let's be clear. It's not about grades, it's not about achievements, it's about enhancing and growing this overall knowledge base that a person has. It's about the curiosity, the joy of discovering something new or learning something new in the world. So it's very, not vague, but it's actually very open and you have huge opportunity within that span. but it's really that. mindset of always wanting to to learn and and to open your mind to new things basically so today being a philomath is basically you you have so much opportunity compared potentially to the past um you have online courses you have i mean internet youtube whatever you have audiobooks books, podcasts, documentary, workshops, you have a panel of ways to... develop your knowledge and to learn about different topics. And you have this amount of resources that is a lot bigger than before. So being a philomath in the modern time is very often, you see more and more people having this eagerness of always wanting to learn and wanting to develop their skills. The piece that it's, and to be understood, is the difference between Being someone that want to do it with a certain goal of I want to be in X position and I want X certification. And someone that is in there for the love of developing their knowledge. And neither is good or bad. But in the current modern world, we see and even more with social media, a lot of people growing, developing their skills, their knowledge. But it's always with a goal to show something. And in the case of being a philomath is just at your core. Just to give you a completely different example, I knew someone who was running and that person had told me, I hate running, but they're running because for health reasons, for whatever, but they hate it. And so it's the same thing. It's like you can say, I need to grow and develop in that direction. So I need to learn that topic. Or you can be, I love to learn about these topics overall. And both... are okay to be you can be one or the other or you can be an in-between but at the end of the day philomath is someone that's really gonna enjoy doing it and enjoy the learning process being a philomath can be good can be a superpower and why is that is there first of all this constant expansion of knowledge you opens your mind to new topics, allows you to compound over time the knowledge that you have gathered on different topics over time and that creates that huge base of knowledge within you that allows you to be very versatile. As I mentioned quickly it's also about being open-minded. Being a philomite gives you the opportunity to be exposed to a lot of different fields, culture, ideas. And it keeps your mind flexible. It keeps your mind sharp. And it helps you challenge also the assumption that you have. Because you're not going to take everything at face value or like only focus on the piece that you like. You're going to want to learn everything. And that includes also different point of view. and that also includes to have a full 360 perspective potentially on a topic. Sometimes you won't get to that 360, but you're going to get to a certain level that allows you to have more than one opinion. And that is definitely important exposure and positive impact of being a philomath. The other part is, of course, from a career standpoint, the door stays open. You are learning about different topics. You have a broad knowledge base. potentially this is more also related to being a generalist in the sense that some philomaths are going to be able to go to experts and learning a lot and very deep about a topic but some others are going to want to just learn about multiple and therefore and I'm more someone that likes to learn about multiple topics so after certain points I know I could go deeper and I sometimes want to go deeper in a topic but very often I am also as excited to learn about another topic and therefore it's always keeping this openness of being able to be versatile, adaptable, knowing so many topics so it's quite like have for for evolving in your career overall. And also curiosity overall. It fuels your life. I was also referring in the introduction of the fact that there is a bit of a relation with a growth mindset. And it's really going hand-to-hand, basically. Learning keeps life exciting. You discover new things. You learn about yourself. You learn about different elements of life. that's creates an environment of complete, not understanding of the world, but like constantly questioning, in a way, the world, and challenging your thoughts and keeping doors open overall. I think also in the past, it has helped me having better conversation, better connection with some people, because I was always trying to understand. where they were coming from or to learn from them and people tend to be quite happy to teach others very often I hear it's nice to be able to explain something etc and asking questions and being open to meeting people from different environments open your minds to a lot of ideas and I feel like I'm this open mind my open your mind things but it's really that point and The last piece, which until I figure out the word polymath and I figure out that was one of my personality traits, I was very much struggling with who I was. And I had always the feeling of, oh, I'd like to learn a bit of this, a bit of that and being not flaky, but constantly wanted to go to another topics and learn more, more, more on different topics. and having this really... in general sense in some ways but since I figure out and I found out about the word philomath it really helped me to be more confident in who I am and my learning journey and my growth journey because I'm always now viewing why my mind go into certain direction of why I have some questions that I want to answer that I want to put out there ask somewhere somehow this constant want to know more but not only on one topic but on variety of topics and jumping from topic to topic this has built confidence knowing now who I am and why I am that way and the more I learned the more I feel also in a form of security that I have a better understanding of myself or the people around me etc so these are really the the good part from my point of view of being a philomate. Maybe there are some others that you've seen based on yourself, but overall expansion of knowledge, being open-minded, being curious, better conversation and connection, self-confidence are really the key parts that really has helped me personally having this personality trait in a way. And really, from a career standpoint, it has kept the door open to... learning new topics and to figure out quickly what those topics are and also potentially to it helped me to figure out what are the things I need to know quickly or what are the questions I need to ask quickly whenever I know a new topic and to be able to be yeah more flexible overall we talked about the good But it's not good always to be a philomate overall and to have this love of learning. It can have a bit of a reverse effect. And it's very much valid currently in today's society. As I mentioned when I explained what a philomate is and what's out there, you have access to so much. You have online courses. You have YouTube videos. you have. podcasts you have books and audiobooks and internet and all those access to also to people that it can become an overload sometimes you have an overload of information today and we all have to make our filter but when you have this love of learning you cannot always want more more more and for example you can end up with a what I would call the certification overload and And sometimes I also do feel like I've gotten a lot of certificates over the years, because for me, in a way, it's not about the certificate in itself. I mean, I know it can potentially help my career, but it was like, if I'm going to do the topic, why not, instead of learning potentially five, ten minutes about it, let's do something concrete for like four, five, six courses, depending on how big this is, and really go deep in it to give you an understanding. I wanted to improve my yoga practice. I wanted to know more about yoga. And instead of just being, I will take a few classes, I'm laughing because it's really hilarious. You're going to think it's not insane, but kind of like, why? I decided to get my certification, my yoga teacher certification, which I am still working on. But for me, it was about if I'm going to learn more about yoga. let's do it the right way and teachers knows best and if i get my teacher training license then i'm really gonna go deep into understanding yoga overall and the theory etc around it so it's kind of the idea behind it and why i said it can be a certification overload because it almost has become collecting certificates and creating that extra pressure that i have to finish those Instead of potentially starting with a few videos or starting with a few podcasts just to know a little bit about the topic and then move on. And when, if it makes sense to go ahead and get a certification. But I tend to go from the get-go into that. Okay, let's do it in full. Let's really get the knowledge that I want to get in that topic. And so I can end up trying to manage to have also to deal with multiple certification if it's different topics during the year, which can end up. being in what I was explaining in the intro, which means I get exhausted sometimes. Also, the other part is the pressure of always being productive. Because you have this curious mindset and you love it, at least for me, I always end up feeling like I have to learn more. I have this amazing database of available information. So why am I wasting time on, let's say, watching TV and not using it to to learn about a new topic or to take a book instead of taking a novel, to take a book that makes sense, that would be about a certain topic that I want to learn. So this constant pressure of being productive and like rest is wasted time is very much present for philomaths because they always want to learn overall. As mentioned also, the mental fatigue, you've had so much in your head. Sometimes it's difficult to have your mind empty and to switch off. There is always another course. There's always something else to learn. And even from people. And really even talking to someone, figuring out something. You know, I was just going on a walk and I was just thinking why. So I took the U-Bahn, which would be the metro. But it said Strasbahn or Stadmann, sorry. And then I know there is Strassenbahn and there is U-Bahn. And I just all of a sudden wanted to learn about it. What's the difference? And how can I figure out, is it easy to see? Is it the way it's like one is maybe on cables and the other one is with the tracks? And yes, I could have turned on my phone, just check it because also we have our phone right there. And instead I said, OK, I can figure that out later. I sent over the work with my dog. But all of a sudden, this type of things can become this constant thing of like, oh, I have a question on this. I want to learn about this. Oh, this is interesting. I would love to get more details on it. And therefore, this creates a mental fatigue of you always have more and more to learn and your mind is never empty at all. You also have, and related to that, also the fear of missing out. Is there something that I haven't learned? Am I going deep enough or am I missing? some knowledge and therefore it can be overall very very exhausting to make decisions on what to learn, when to learn it. And there is also this depth versus breadth. So jumping from topic to topic or how deep you go, this can also be overall very challenging for a philomath. I think for me, those are the main pieces that makes the topic of being a philomath really like the negative side of it. But of course, there is always a balance between the two and I don't want to say it's amazing to be one or it's bad to be one at the end of the day learning and loving the learning process and loving learning overall is something great and to be praised but I think it's important to put some limitation behind and to find the right balance how to find this balance I think you have to kind of define a set, at least for me now, I try every single time to define a set of questions to ask myself before I start anything or I start to dig deep. But again, this is a process. I'm definitely not perfect. As I mentioned, I'm mentally exhausted. I've done a lot this year when it comes to learning. And so I would, I should most likely have done less. But overall, it's always asking. why before what why do i need to know that information why do i need to learn about this topic because if i always ask myself what do i need to learn there will always be something to learn so it's not about it's about putting some boundaries by trying to say why do i need to learn that right now uh can i can this wait or not and also the quality over quantity is it about how much I'm learning or is it about the quality of what I'm learning in that regard. So potentially it's about making a list for future learning you want to have to try to help you find the limitation or find the balance. But overall, we can't know everything from the get-go or we can't keep on learning every single day something new because if not, it's never going to be high quality enough. So it's finding the right balance. Also, It's finding this space in your mind. As I mentioned, you know, you go on a walk, nothing should be on your mind. But if you start to try to learn something while you're walking or while you're doing something else, you always end up being busy and being connected and being 100% wired in some ways. So I would really advise, and I try to do this, for example, today. I was planning to listen to a podcast during the walk with my dog. And after five minutes, I switched off and I put music, which calmed my mind and helped me kind of like think about anything to learn, which usually podcast for me is about learning. So it's finding that way to have that empty space to allow you also for creativity in some ways. It's not easy. And I mean, you most likely are going to hear it. I don't know how this episode will be put together, but I definitely feel a lot lower energy today. So most likely you will feel it in this podcast. But overall, it's about applying as you go. You won't be able also on that part to improve everything about the bads of being a philomate or trying to create the right boundaries from the get-go. As I said, I made... some mistakes last year which I made same this year and I'm learning as I go also on that I'm improving little by little so also be kind to yourself if this is something that that you have always in mind and also finding the right band tricks for use is there is there moments for you that makes more sense to learn is there some seasons where you are more inclined to learn I don't know you love to learn through reading books for example some people do you may say oh it's a better timing to do this in the winter when I'm cozying up inside and then in the summer I'm like taking a bit of a break and enjoying the outdoors for example or it could be more that you know your energy is higher at a certain period of time so for me for example definitely something to have in mind that I should always try to avoid to have too much to you deliver or to do when it comes to learning maybe in September or October to give myself a bit of a break or to have a better setup. I feel like in this episode I haven't talked exactly about exact example so it's a bit tricky because as I said until I have successfully gotten in that case the diplomas I want to get it feels tricky for me to talk about it but just to give you an understanding it was one thing I can talk about is I needed to get my... B2 German certification this year. And I was doing other things at the same time when it comes to my learning. It comes to learning on the job, learning personally, also with this podcast. I'm learning, I'm reading some stuff. I am also dealing with bigger study, bigger diploma. And doing all this at the same time as also getting my B2. And I definitely felt like I didn't have enough time and enough mental capacity. to properly prepare for that exam. And I do speak good German. I do understand a lot of German. So most likely B2 is more than attainable. But in the context, have I been able to spend enough of my mind and not my time and say my mind into the topic and my time as well, but letting the space for my brain to take care of the topic? Maybe not. And therefore, this is a learning of you maybe I should have taken a few more months to ensure that I have better results. I mean, I will have to if I don't get the certification. But overall, this is something that is really a good example. So I still gave 200% to everything that I did. But it's not a problem of not giving enough time and opportunity and not to be fully dedicated to it. At some point when you're a philomath and you keep on learning, No matter who you are, you have a limitation when it comes to energy, when it comes to brain capacity, like physically overall. And it's really something that your brain can get more and more information. Don't get me wrong. But at the same time, no. So there are moments where you can learn something and you can't compile or keep on like learning four or five things at the same time in some ways. And it's a bit what I ended up. trying to do this year, which I don't know, I might tell you that it worked and that I got my B2, but I'm not 100% confident and I would have wanted to put a different spin on it. So it's really something to learn overall, to balance it out. And you have to learn based on that, on who you are. So it's also learning and in order to know what works and what doesn't. So as I said, for me, most likely October, November, September, October. Not the best months if I have decided to put too much at the beginning of the year. Or maybe it's to spread better across the year my learnings and where I want to grow. But I definitely know that the beginning of the year when I set my goals and my objective, I'm highly, highly motivated and I'm like, go, And I don't want to wait six months to start something. And sometime maybe I should split the year in half and reorganize myself to still have this learning. Or as I said, it's also potentially having this list of topics which I have to let go for the moment and do later. But I would not change who I am. Let me be clear here. It's more about finding the right balance to ensure that I get the most out of being a philomath and about having this love of learning. Because I think it has opened my mind so much and it has allowed me to be And... so aware of a lot of things around me and around the world that I'm proud of having this personality trait even though it can be tough sometimes so yeah I think that's pretty much it so if you're a philomath I would love to exchange with you if you're not and you want to you want to become there are also ways to to love learning it's not about one size fits all maybe you just haven't find the way that you like to learn. yeah I think that's it a bit of a rocky episodes as I mentioned I'm a bit exhausted so I hope you'll be fine you get me laughing I think someone was telling me that the fact that I'm doing all almost all the episodes alone is uh is very I don't know how they put it but saying like kind of wow how do you manage to talk so much I guess it's uh philomate in me that has so much in my mind that I need to share it back so yeah I hope you like it you like to talk about this I don't know how this will resonate with you if you're curious if you have some thoughts if you view it as a negative trait if you view it as a positive let me know if this is something that you already knew did you already know about being a philomath or is this a brand new world and world And world, sorry, this is my French, or like my French accent being making the two words difficult next to each other. But yeah, I am rambling. So I will stop here. Have a great day. And we talk very soon. Bye. And that's a wrap for today's episodes of The Pulse. If something resonated with you, I would love to hear about it. So drop me a message on Instagram, LinkedIn, or leave a review wherever you're listening. Your feedback fuels this community and I much appreciate it. Make sure to follow The Pulse on your favorite podcast platforms and on social media so you never miss an episode. And if you're craving for more... Check out the show notes for links, resources, and ways to connect. Until next time, keep trusting your journey, because growth happens one step at a time. See you soon. Bye.
