Why You Should Have At Least Two Careers?

You should not feel attached to just one profession. If something interests you, act on it.

Meeting a lawyer who wants to work on renewable energy, or a software developer who wants to write a novel, or an editor who dreams of becoming a landscape designer is not hard to come by. You may even dream of transitioning to a career very different from your current job. However, very few people make this leap. The cost of this transition seems very high and the probability of success is very remote.

It’s also not easy to feel like you’re running out day by day in a single career journey and to think that this will never change. So it’s best to do both things at once. Two careers are always better than one. And rest assured, sticking to both careers will reap benefits for both.

Kabir Sehgal has four professions: corporate strategist, US Navy Officer, book writer, and record producer. There are two questions people often ask him. The first is “How much do you sleep?” and the second is “How do you find the time to do everything?” He says he gets plenty of sleep and also creates time to do everything. He says this about these questions:

“These questions don’t get to the heart of my reasons and motivations. A more descriptive question would be great instead: “Why do you have multiple careers?” Quite simply, working multiple jobs makes me happier and more fulfilled. It also helps me perform better at every job.”

Subsidize Your Skills Development

Sehgal says:

“My corporate job subsidizes my career. Since I had no references as a producer, no one was going to pay me to make my music, and it wasn’t money that motivated me to become a producer in the first place. It was my passion for jazz and classical music. Therefore, I volunteered to gain experience in this new industry. My day job has given me the privilege of making albums and the skills to be successful as a producer. Because doing this job also requires being a good producer, creating a vision, hiring staff, creating a timeline, making money. After releasing more than a dozen albums and winning several Grammys, producers and musicians were starting to see if they could hire me as a producer.”

He says he often invites corporate clients to music production sessions. For someone who works in the office all day, she says it’s exciting to interact with singers, musicians, and other creative professionals behind the scenes. He talks about a memory about it:

“One of my clients observed dance music musicians while they were recording in Cuba, he said, “I’ve never had such fun colleagues at work.”

Make Friends in Different Circles

Sehgal’s professional circle during his years on Wall Street was initially limited to other people in the financial services industry: bankers, analysts, economists . He says the following about that period:

“Taken together, we all form a “consensus” view of markets. And many of my asset manager clients were looking for something different: “Give me a conflicting perspective.” In other words, they didn’t want to hear the group opinion, the majority opinion. So I decided to get people who could provide my clients with a differentiated perspective.”

Discover Real Innovations

As you work different jobs, you can define where ideas interact and, more importantly, where they should interact. You can take Steve Jobs, the embodiment of interdisciplinary thinking, as an example in this regard.

When you follow your curiosities and passions, you will bring light to their new careers. This will satisfy you more. You can manage to do them all the better by doing more than one thing.