My family is currently rewatching the TV series Bones—my husband and I watched it years ago, but now we’re introducing it to our adult-ish son. He’s the one late to the party, mostly because I had the common sense back then not to show a crime-solving, body-filled procedural to a small child. Parenting win.

Anyway, in one episode, a character casually described himself as a polymath.

I felt like I knew what the word meant, but I still grabbed my phone and looked it up just to be sure. According to the definition I found, a polymath is someone with knowledge in multiple domains who combines that knowledge in new and interesting ways.

I blinked.
That… actually sounded a little like me.

But before I wrapped myself in a cape and declared myself a Renaissance woman, I decided to double-check. So naturally, I asked ChatGPT to see if the robot brain agreed with me.

And that’s where this whole post began.

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So, What Is an Expert?

ChatGPT explained that being an expert isn’t about knowing everything. (Thank goodness.) Instead, it comes down to a few things:

• Deep knowledge in a particular area
• The ability to apply that knowledge effectively
• Being trusted by others in that domain

Expertise isn’t something you proclaim.
It’s something the people around you recognize when they start seeking your insight.

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And What About a Polymath?

A polymath isn’t someone who’s simply “good at lots of things.” A true polymath develops multiple areas of expertiseand blends them together in creative, unexpected, and often deeply practical ways.

Modern polymaths tend to be:

• deeply curious
• naturally interdisciplinary
• happy wandering between fields
• energized by learning
• skilled at connecting ideas that don’t look related—at first

The power isn’t in how many domains you know.
It’s in how you stitch them together.

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Honestly… Isn’t That Just What Librarians Do?

The more I thought about it, the more obvious it felt:

Being a polymath sounds suspiciously like being a librarian.

Librarians:

• navigate across disciplines daily
• translate complex ideas for others
• connect information to people and people to ideas
• solve problems using knowledge from everywhere
• treat curiosity as an essential survival skill

Let’s be honest: if polymathy had headquarters, it would probably smell faintly of books and freshly unboxed interlibrary loan shipments.

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And the “Weaver” Metaphor Hit Me Hard

When ChatGPT described polymaths as people who “weave” ideas together, I actually laughed—because that’s my entire creative process in a nutshell.

In the four Creative Energy Types framework I’ve been developing, I’ve always identified as the Weaver—the person who blends insights from different worlds to create something new, useful, and (on good days) a little magical.

And then there’s this delightful detail:
my maiden name doesn’t technically mean “weaver”… it means “to knit.”

Knitting isn’t weaving in the technical sense, but the spirit is the same:
looping individual threads into something with structure, purpose, resilience, and beauty.

And when I look at the way I actually work, that metaphor hits home. I don’t just connect ideas—I knit them into new patterns:

• I created a leadership workshop based on a 1944 spy sabotage manual, transforming covert wartime tactics into modern lessons about communication, trust, and organizational drag.
• I designed a customer service training around a magic metaphor, using spells, potions, and enchantments to explain the neuroscience of emotional contagion, mirror neurons, and de-escalation.
• I built a camp-themed professional development workshop with badges, s’mores metaphors, and an empathy compass—teaching serious skills through serious fun.
• I use systems thinking to help library staff navigate complexity, burnout, and change without losing the human element.

This isn’t dabbling.
This is weaving.
This is knitting meaning out of threads that don’t look like they belong together—until they do.

Sometimes the pattern only reveals itself once you step back.

And that’s when I realized:
maybe I didn’t stumble across the word “polymath” by accident.
Maybe it’s the universe nudging me, whispering,
“You’ve been doing this your whole life.”

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A Thought to Leave You With

You don’t have to pick a single lane.
You’re allowed to be many things.
And sometimes the most meaningful work happens in the places where those things overlap.

Dr. Jen’s Takeaway: Your brain isn’t “doing too much”—it’s doing what it was designed to do. Follow your curiosity, mix your interests, and trust that the threads will make sense when woven together.

Maybe you’re a polymath too—and maybe you’ve been one all along without realizing it.

💬 What’s one “thread” from your life—an interest, a skill, a curiosity—that seems completely separate from everything else… but actually connects in surprising ways? I’d love to hear your patterns.