Career Fusion: Creating a Blended Work Life

Career Fusion.  How's that for a term to describe your life?


In fact, I think this amalgam of words perfectly reflects what so many of us are doing these days--melding together similar or dissimilar careers or hobbies to create a fully satisfying life.

In my case, my love of broadcasting, marketing, music and baseball have become part of my new career and revenue stream for the past five years.

No 9-to-5 office job for me, babe.  Perhaps you've made a similar switch in your life and career.  You used to be an accountant for a large firm.  Now you're a free-lance accountant/ventriloquist who also works at a vineyard.  You're a hyphenate.

Oscar-winner and puppet-master Kevin Spacey has his hands in lots of things

In the beginning, it felt funny (being just one thing) and leaving my last job, not having a place to go for 40 to 60 hours a week and having a group of colleagues with which to eat lunch.  If you are like me, I was my job.

Too obvious?  Oh, shut up!

The current reality, especially if you are an experienced professional, is we now have the chance to be all the things were meant to be.

Writer Richard Paino describes it as "easy (and usually prudent) to give up on one’s love of something because it doesn’t pay enough to keep up with the bills. It is also common to toss aside one ability for the sake of another that is thought to be more practical. But consider the idea that a person can use his or her work related talents in ways that also serve unmet inner needs."

Paino presents us with this video of Robert Gupta, who was confronted with this same conundrum of which way to go in life. Instead of choosing one path or the other, he married two seemingly disconnected career paths, medicine and music. He found a way to satisfy his desires both to play music and heal others.

This is one space where effective problem solving and creative thinking are applied to career planning.

Take a look at my career.  Yours, too?

Mr. Paino continues:  "Thinking, for example, of how to marry chemistry with sports or of finance with furniture making is both challenging and bewitching but can add some clarity in making a career choice. It can involve  taking stock of one’s knowledge, skills and abilities, reflecting on what is missing in the work life, and brainstorming with friends, family, and a career counselor. The more people involved in the process, the more potentially beneficial unions may surface."

"Applying one’s varied abilities or interests in a joint effort or through multiple professions has the potential to deliver great life satisfaction. Finding the right approach is perhaps dependent on a person’s identity. No matter how one chooses to get there, it will require a great deal of self-evaluation, creative thinking, the courage to engage others and a watchful eye for opportunities."

I call it Career Fusion.  Fuse your passion with your future.