Yogesh MalikFuture is already here, it is just unevenly distributed. Technology Evangelist and Digital FuturistAug 21 · 4 min read

Slash Career Can Get You More Work, Moneyand Fun

It’s not about career planning or career transition. It is about how you definecareer?

ow you synergize your career, hobbies and dreams in a long run? andmake all relevant subtle changes for a more satisfying life

What is ‘Slash Career’?Slash career is “One person with multiple careers”

You can also say it is a ‘Career with slashes’.

The way i say it i am a Client Solution Leader/Digital Marketer/ Digital AssetBroker.

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You could be Entrepreneur/Artist/Blogger/Journalist.

“A single ¬xed identity is a liability today”, “It only makespeople more vulnerable to sudden changes in economic orpersonal conditions. The most successful and healthyamong us now develop multiple identities, managedsimultaneously, to be called upon as conditions change.”

Source: Gail Sheehy in New Passages

Why It’s Time to Embrace a ‘Slash’ Career?Enjoy variety: Variety is the spice of life; same is true with career also.Develop your hobby into a career sideline.

Kill that burnout: Invest your extra energy into something exciting sothat you don’t feel the burnout from your long time running primarycareer.

Experience the inter-contentedness of multiple industry sectors. Howdisruptive technology is changing healthcare system? How IoT ( Internetof Things ) will solve environmental issues?

Unleash your multiple identities: You may be a tech research guyspending all day in a lab, but that should not stop to come on cookingchannel, or talk on next TEDx event.

Future proof your career: Today you are A/B/C. Fast forward threeyears, you become A/C/D/E, and in another four years you are C/E/F. Beindustry relevant, be future relevant.

Path to success: You might not be very successful in your current career,slash career provides you an alternate path to success.

Economic Securities: Enjoy multiple income streams.

How It Worked Out For Me

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How It Worked Out For MeMore and more people are choosing ‘slash’ career, but that’s not themotivation here.

Let’s have more clarity on why those people are after ‘slash’ career?

re they really choosing it, or all that is coming to them because they areseeing a big picture and making their career future proof.

I started technology blogging in 2009 and I think its laxative, it brings memore clarity to my thoughts and feelings. All that made me learn onlinemarketing and disruptive technologies, and later I started advocating thesame to startup community and individuals through Zen Virtual Ventures

As I was meeting a lot of small entrepreneurs in person and virtuallycollaborating with other entrepreneurs on various crowd-sourcingmarketplace I realized that I have got myself poured into marketing andbranding, and that made me invest in digital assets that are now available atZen Domain Names.

oth of these additional slash careers are helping me evolve my multipleidentities, and along with multiple source of income I enjoy people who

are networked to me now, all because of those additional slashes I added.

Gail Sheehy in New Passages said this:-

“Stop and recalculate, Imagine the day you turn 45 as theinfancy of another life.” Instead of declining, men andwomen who embrace a Second Adulthood are progressingthrough entirely new passages into lives of deeper meaning,renewed playfulness, and creativity beyond menopause andmale menopause”

Examples of Slash Careerists

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Examples of Slash CareeristsHistory’s most notable slash careerists:  -Benjamin Franklin (publisher/ politician/ technologist) -Leonardo da Vinci (artist/ inventor)

Some other interesting slashes: (source)  -Sanjay Gupta, neurosurgeon/ CNN correspondent -Carrie Lane, art consultant/ Pilates instructor -Dan Milstein, computer programmer/ theatre director -Robert Childs, psychotherapist/ violinmaker -Ronald Hoffmann, Nobel Prize-winning chemist/ poet, playwright -Oscar Smith, police officer/ personal trainer

What Can You Do?If you think you are having trouble managing one career, it might be theburnout and fatigue because of decade long repeated frustration coming outof single career with enormous monotony.

You just need to create a plan to synergize your multiple identities and give ita fresh look, and start something small, but start now. Don’t wait.

Ask yourself

What do you want to become next?

rather than

What do you want to become?