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It’s that time of year again – the levels of guilt I feel over how poorly I’ve kept up my website and social media presence have reached their peak. And so I’m looking at website templates, figuring out whether it makes sense to join Instagram and creating content schedules. I don’t half mind it either, that is, until I have to articulate how I will promote myself on the shiny website with which I’m supposed to confidently stride into 2021.
I view myself as a journalist first and foremost, but I also do project management; programme and present events; published a book about friendship; and together with Linda, I write the newsletter about freelancing you’re currently reading. I thankfully no longer have to write resumes – that’s one administrative burden we’re spared as freelancers! – but how do I distil everything I do into a business card, email signature or website? The minute I start wrangling with this question, I’m overcome with doubt. Would I have more assignments if I could explain in one word what I do? Wouldn’t it be better to pick one activity, one niche and one sector? WHO AM I?
As these questions run through my brain, part of me realises that it’s a little strange that one of the first questions we ask a person when meeting them for the first time is what they do – and it’s stranger still that we expect a one-word answer. That we ask children what they want to be when they grow up as soon as they learn the difference between a police officer, doctor and teacher. Because what are the odds of someone growing up today “being” one profession when they’re adult? Already, the resumes of young people today are a patchwork of internship, part-time, project, substitute, short-term, freelance, start-up and temp work. The labour market is changing so rapidly that your dream job sometimes no longer exists by the time you graduate. And when your dream job still is around, it typically doesn’t just fall into your lap. Instead, lots of people at one point have to combine multiple gigs to work their way to said dream job.
But leaving this reality of the labour market aside for a minute, it’s true that some people enthusiastically embrace the opportunity to be able to do many, many different things. Consider Emilie Wapnick, for instance, the creator of a community for so-called multipotentialites. She is a strong proponent of combining multiple professions; she wouldn’t have it any other way in fact. In her fascinating TED talk, she explains that she doesn’t want to excel at one thing; she wants to pursue all her interests. “I have no interest in committing to one thing forever. Once I no longer feel inspired in a field, I simply move on. Some people call this ‘quitting’, I call it growth,” Wapnick says.
According to Emilie Wapnick, innovation happens when you apply the knowledge and experience you’ve acquired in one area to solve a problem in an altogether different field. She cites the Renaissance as an example, a period during which brilliant scientists made groundbreaking discoveries in varying areas of study and at the same time produced artworks like the Mona Lisa. Would Leonardo Da Vinci have worried that his CV was all over the place?
David Epstein is also someone who believes that cultivating several varying skills can be a valuable thing. After years of research into what makes top athletes successful, the Range author began to doubt the widespread belief that athletes should start as early as possible and that they should focus on one sports discipline to make it to the top, à la Tiger Woods. Epstein decided to broaden his research to successful artists, musicians, inventors and scientists. He came to the conclusion that in most sectors – especially the ones that are complex and unpredictable – generalists are the ones to excel. People who settle on a particular path only later in life or who continue to focus on multiple interests over a long period are more creative and adaptable, and are able to draw connections that their peers who are specialised in one thing aren’t able to, Epstein argues.
Listening to people like Wapnick and Epstein makes me feel a little bit better about my not wanting to choose. Doing different things doesn’t have to be a disadvantage. And now that I’m a freelancer, I can experiment as much or as little as I want, without having to worry whether something suits my job description or title. I don’t adapt to my work; my work adapts to me.
How I will translate all this into a website that makes sense is another question altogether – one that I will be trying to answer over the next few weeks. In the meantime, I would love to know: how do those of you who combine different activities do this? Let us know by emailing us at freelancerthefriendly@gmail.com
Selma
What I’m listening to, watching, reading this week:
The Guardian has published another article explaining why it’s so important to shatter the taboos around money and to talk about how we spend, save and earn 👏👏👏
This episode of the Citations Needed podcast is not only relevant for journalists. It dissects how media have been framing mental health during the pandemic: by either telling us how bad things are, or handing by out self help advice. How useful are those approaches – and how can media do better?
We recently discussed one of my favourite subjects on Brussels Explained, the lecture series I present with Curieus, deBuren and The Brussels Bulletin: the 12.000 rose-ringed parakeets of Brussels. Listen to the podcast here 🦜
This newsletter was written by Selma Franssen. Selma is a Dutch freelance journalist living in Brussels. She is the author of Vriendschap in tijden van eenzaamheid and has written for Charlie Magazine, OneWorld, De Morgen, De Standaard, The New Statesman, Bustle, Knack, VPRO and Newsweek.
You’ll hear from Linda A. Thompson in two weeks, a Belgian freelance journalist who writers about all things law and social justice. She’s written for Bloomberg Law, Law.com International, Deutsche Welle, OZY, International Politics & Society, USA Today, IJNet, Underpinned and Equal Times.