We’re in a dark age right now.
Wage growth is stagnating. Corporate profits are at a 70 year high. We’re overworked, burnt out and given bullsh*t jobs to perform for companies we don’t care about.
All while house prices increase 1010%, inflation rises 255% and salaries jump a meagre 43% [in the 40 years from 1980 to 2020].
So, is it any wonder that so many of us in our 20s are treading alternative paths to success & exploring the endless opportunities of the internet to create our own purposeful, flexible and financially rewarding careers?
It shouldn’t be a surprise at all. And it’s not some fad that’s going away. Using your 20s to explore everything you’ve ever wanted to do is here to stay.
Social impact & self-employment are the new normal. And 42% of Gen Z are even side-hustling just so they can make ends meet [source]. You’ve heard this story before. We all have. From our friends, family and favourite creators, starting a side gig is seen as both “cool” and completely necessary today.
To diversify our primary source of income, earn a bit more to save for that out-of-reach ambition to own a home or even break free from full time employment, there are 1,001 reasons why so many of us are looking for alternatives. It’s an enticing story. One grounded in reality.
But, what does it mean for us, the multipotentialites with our many interests. How do we navigate this new reality to satisfy everything we ever want to experience in this brave new world while earning a living along the way?
Creating Careers of the Future
The careers of the future are embedded in the polymaths of the past. Those who relied not on extrinsic barometers of success, but on the pursuit of knowledge above all else. Here’s how we can live like they used to.
Enter the New Careers Sweet Spot…
With it’s three overlapping components:
WHO YOU ARE - Living as a Multipotentialite.
WHERE YOU’RE GOING - Embracing a Squiggly Career.
WHAT YOU DO - Earning via Portfolio Work.
Master them all and you’ll set yourself up for an engaging career that enables you to explore your many interests while out-earning a “normal job”. But, fear not if going all-in is too much right now. You don’t have to live by all three. Start with where you’re at. And take on each identity one at a time.
Each will take you one step closer to the mastery you seek.
Living as a Multipotentialite
As “an individual with many interests”, embracing our identity as a multipotentialite will allow us recognise that exploring the many passions that pull us into their orbit is a strength, not a weakness.
For crossing their intersections, overlapping all that we learn and stacking our many skills allows us to become irreplaceable - as the only people on the planet with our exact combination of valuable experiences.
However we’ve come to introduce ourselves… Writer, Consultant, Footballer, Coffee Lover, Bookworm… All of them are temporary words that exist only to describe our past actions. We can transcend them at any time, moving on from one interest to the next, exploring life one challenge at a time. We were never meant to live with our labels of today for the rest of our lives.
And by not wrapping our self-worth in the person we know ourselves as today, but instead the infinite possibilities of who we can become tomorrow, we free ourselves from the shackles of limitation.
We soon realise that we can do anything in this world. That with enough persistence, knowledge and connections obstacles that scared us only a year ago are now our new normal.
For this is what it means to live as a multipotentialite.
Embracing a Squiggly Career
Knowing who we are is one thing. But, knowing where we’re going is a whole other beast. And in a world where get-rich-quick schemes are the norm, rejecting the successful footsteps of others in search of our unique route through the unknown is a path not fit for the faint hearted.
Embracing the squiggly career “without obvious progression” forces us to redefine success on our own terms. Gone are the accreditations, examinations and clear career pathways ahead. In it’s place is a focus on satisfying, impactful work that offers immense learning potential.
Whether it means taking on a full-time role, going back to university or double downing on a side hustle, going squiggly is less about designing a perfect life plan and more about taking the best next decision.
It’s about listening to our gut. And being unafraid of the change it asks of us.
Earning via Portfolio Work
Relying on a single source of income is a fool’s game.
In today’s world an employer will drop a 40-year career veteran as fast as they’ll fire a recently hired grad. All while drip-feeding everyone else the “standard” 5% pay increase each year while paying above market rates for new talent. We live in a world where loyalty gets use nowhere and job security doesn’t even exist. Both are fallacies holding back your potential.
Which is why earning through multiple sources of income has become the new normal. Unlocking an independence, creativity and risk diversification along the way, utilising our many skills enables us to explore our many interests at once. And rather than waiting for that big career change or mid-life crisis to explore what really invigorates us, portfolio work allows us to experiment before we’re ready to take that big leap.
Working many roles often starts with a hustle on the side or a freelancing gig on the weekends, but can quickly evolve to become our full-time thing. Coupled with a squiggly career that keeps evolving and an love for many interests, this multiple jobs approach is deeply fulfilling. Especially when all the plates are spinning in the right direction and we’re staying on top of how we’re evolving within all the roles we’re juggling.
So, what does this mean for you?
It means that you have the permission to start.
To begin unbundling the who, where and what of work to redefine how an ideal career looks like for you. All with the aim of not one day discovering, but everyday living a fulfilling life on your terms that connects you with your deeper purpose in a world that can’t stop telling you what to do.
Take the time to sit with the real you and look for that one starting point. Maybe it’s a hobby you’ve not a chance to take up yet. Or a creative project you’ve stored in the depths of your Google Drive, never to see the light of the day. Whatever you find that connects you with your flow, explore it, create it, share it and build audience to one day monetise it.
Progressing one day at a time.