I am often told to settle down – in personal life, of course, but professionally too. I am recklessly fast at letting go of things that either don’t interest me, don’t go with my core values or don’t feel like my goal anymore. Similarly, I am quick to try out new interests to see what it holds for me. It sounds fickle-minded and maybe it is. A lot of people around me suggested that I stick to one career interest and master it. That’s fair. But the whole idea of settling into a routine life puts me off. And I couldn’t see myself living that life; which got me researching on: ‘Are there more people who are trying to do different things simultaneously in their careers?’
Fortunately for me, the answer was ‘yes’. (It is always great to find out that ‘you are not the only one’ in a lot of these adverse situations, so the shame of doing/being wrong can be kept at bay)
Portfolio career was a term coined by Charles Handy, an author and philosopher, in his 1989 management classic, ‘The Age of Unreason’. He referred to it as the reorganization of careers as portfolios full of different jobs. And given the current ‘gig economy’ and self-employment prospects, it is only natural that portfolio career has flourished so much.
There are two broad reasons, which might even merge at some point, on why people choose to have portfolio careers:
Finances: In an unpredictable economy, it is always a financially safe idea to not have all your eggs in one basket. With a steady, anchor career, it will always be good to have a set of satellite careers that will keep the finances flowing. And often these side gigs are less time-consuming and less intensive compared to the anchor career.
Interests: The whole idea of either letting go of your interests to pursue a steady career or having to choose one interest from the bulk of them that you have, is fast changing. These days, it is very common to hear people introduce themselves as: ‘software engineer and restauranteur’ ‘teacher and dancer’ ‘strategist during the weekdays, singer on weekends’ and more. This means, people are not shying away from trying their hands at the various interests that they have. For some, this would mean having an anchor career for meeting the financial needs while pursuing one’s interests on the side, or, having a series of interests that one is pursuing.
I have always had varied interests and sacrificing one for another never sat right with me. After trying my hands at a career in the corporate, training to be a professional dancer, traveling around and writing content, I finally have a few interests that I am passionately pursuing – human workplaces, content writing and movement therapy. I consult with organizations on becoming more human by engaging employees and communicating well with them. I write content for websites, blogs, and videos. And, I have just completed a course in movement therapy and in the process of figuring out how I can engage with people through the things I have learned in this course.
I also realized I have always fantasized about doing multiple things simultaneously since my teenage. So guess, for now, I’m really happy with the portfolio career. Might end up letting go of a few things, adding a few new ones or even integrating all of them under one umbrella. Never know and this, only time can tell.
So for those of you who have been advised to pursue one stable career and master it, don’t worry. Things are changing with all the flexibility that today’s world provides. And portfolio careers, they are a thing now!
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