Jack of all trades, master of none!
Or so we have been conditioned to believe…
A few weeks ago, I was having a conversation with a friend who was being featured by our university’s alumni magazine on her multi-career lifestyle. We spoke at great length about society’s perception of being a jack of multiple trades, and as such a master of none.
But is being a jack of all trades and a master of all possible?
There is a growing trend amongst millennials and generation Z towards having multiple careers, and not just to diversify their income.
Yes, this trend might have started out as a way to earn more income and diversify income sources, but it is more and more tied to the need to live one’s best, authentic life.
Proponents of multiple careers argue that it allows you to learn new skills and determine your strengths, it allows you to find fulfilment as you are exploring each passion and ‘giving every dream life’. It exposes you to variety and excitement, it opens you up to new experiences and opportunities and most importantly (well I think so), it helps you develop a competitive (niche) edge.
And those who argue that you cannot be a jack of all trades and master of all, point to the fact that having multiple careers distracts you from all your careers, it leads to burn out and could pose legal challenges when it comes to contractual law. But more importantly, they worry that having multiple careers shows a lack of professionalism, commitment and investment in one career.
A lawyer that is working hard to ensure they make Partner feels slighted by another lawyer who is also working hard to make Partner but teaches yoga classes three times a week. The feeling becomes even worse if the lawyer-yoga teacher makes Partner before the lawyer.
Why is this the case? Because we have centuries of conditioning telling us that we cannot wear separate career hats.
And now is the time to stop believing those lies!
Humans are multidimensional; we are complex, we are multi-faceted and we already wear multiple hats in our everyday lives, why not our careers? We need to stop feeling like a fraud because our resources (time & effort) is split across multiple careers, rather, we need to find the thread that binds these different careers together.
And my friend argues that is you! Mastering yourself and not your skills is where multi-careerism shines.
“Sometimes we feel we have to sacrifice some parts of ourselves in order to pursue others, but, if we step back and think, we are likely to find that the roles we are drawn to are actually perfectly shaped puzzle pieces that define our true multifaceted nature. By mastering yourself, you have the ability to transfer learning from one industry to another. That is how you disrupt and innovate.”
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References
https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/alumni/chanile-vine-jack-three-trades-mistress-each
https://blog.markgrowth.com/a-practical-guide-to-having-multiple-careers-3eae8748fde2
