Permission to lead a multipassionate life
Lean into your strengths and craft a life that suits you
“You’re studying Biopsychology and Asian Studies? Guess you don’t know what you want to do.” At my very first career fair, a recruiter took one look at my resume and dismissed me with a sneer. Although I was too timid for a witty retort, I instinctively knew their logic wasn’t right. Was it so infeasible to like two things?
I recently read Emma Gannon’s The Multi-Hyphen Life and felt seen by this quote:
"I have many different jobs. I am afraid I am unable to tell you what I do very easily. For a while, I felt like this was a negative thing - a lifestyle wrapped in stigma…After many years of mumbling instead of proudly proclaiming, I realized I wanted to write about it, and like most things you think are your biggest flaws, they turn out to be your biggest sell."
From flaws to strengths
That recruiter would probably have been disgusted that I ended up with not only those two majors, but two minors as well - one in music and one in environment. However impractical or “flawed” it could have appeared to pursue a liberal arts education, I found that the ability to navigate multiple disciplines made me more informed and creative. Morever, familiarity with pushing past the initial discomfort of understanding “rules” governing different fields gave me versatility and speed of learning.
Today, those “flaws” are my biggest strengths, particularly being good at learning and helping others do the same. If I were to hyphenate the various roles I’ve played in the past year, it would look something like leadership coach - instructional designer - facilitator - team effectiveness consultant - program director - project manager - master’s student. Messy, right?
Multiple passions give you flexibility
The reality is that most careers today aren’t linear. A whirlpool of constantly shifting work models, new tech implementations, and frequent reorgs have resulted in 73% of HR leaders reporting that their employees are experiencing change fatigue. Whether it’s discontent or just wanting to try something new, employees are seeking new opportunities at the highest rate since 2015, with 1 in 5 planning to change fields. Leaning into a multipassionate life can give you flexibility to focus on different skills and interests throughout chapters of your life.
Lean into instincts instead of what you can justify to others
In my coaching work, I find people (including myself) can get caught up in how to justify themselves to others. If we find ourselves at a loss to articulate our instincts to others, we may resign ourselves to continue down a more logical, societally accepted path rather than charging forward with nothing but our instincts as justification for how we live our lives.
Some things that “society” could judge me for:
Staying up late and sleeping in (obviously, sleeping 9pm-5am is more virtuous than 2am-10am)
Having multiple interests and hobbies (instead of “jack of all trades, master of none” how about “Renaissance woman”?)
Working in bursts 💨 instead of being 100% consistent 🤖
If you’re an early riser who works consistently from dawn to dusk on an all-encompassing passion - that’s great! However, if that feels constraining to you, listen to your instincts and explore what suits you instead of conforming to what society might expect.
Are you waiting for permission?
At the end of The Multi-Hyphen Life, Emma recounts how many people approach her after workshops with carefully laid out plans. They already know what they want to do and how to do it, but haven’t taken action. While it may be phrased as a question, what they actually want is permission to carry them out.
"It's made me realize just how much we stand in our own way by simply not giving ourselves the permission to go for it. Give yourself the permission to give it — whatever it is — a try" (Gannon, 2020, p. 181).
I don’t want to be the one standing between myself and my goals. I want to give myself the best chance to make progress, even if rejection sucks and failure is scary and people may judge you along the way. If you have a wild idea, are you giving yourself a real chance to make it happen? Grant yourself permssion to give it a try.
Ways to live a multipassionate life (that are NOT quitting your job)
Reflect on your last week. What sparked joy for you? What brought about a sense of dread? Amplify the moments that brought you joy and seek to minimize or remove what brings dread.
Explore new hobbies and skills. Don’t focus on whether you are immediately good at it (people frequently judge their nonexistent skills before they give themselves a chance to develop them), if it can be monetized, or if posting pictures of this new skill will impress others…notice how alive you feel in the process of learning. Are you enjoying yourself? Would you like to continue this new practice?
Let go of something that isn’t serving you. We often think about adding new hobbies, income streams, skills, and more, but it’s just as important to let go of what isn’t serving you to make room for what is to come. Perhaps you’ve been working in admin roles and want to move on to something more technical, yet you keep volunteering to support the admin side of things. Or, you want to step into your newly appointed leadership role, but keep focusing on nitty gritty details that your team is working to execute. While multiple passions will be part of your life journey, they will ebb and flow as you rise to meet new challenges. If you fail to let go of your past identities, you may unintentionally be holding yourself back.
What are some of your passions? Is there a plan you’ve been waiting to put into place? Let me know in the comments below and I’d love to cheer you on. :)
Kindly,
Jenny