February 5

If you were to take all your money and invest it in one stock, most responsible financial advisors would tell you that you’re taking too much risk. While there’s always a chance that your bet will pay off, it’s far more likely that you’ll end up with middling results or even lose it all. Instead of this “all in” approach, most advisors would encourage you to create a more balanced portfolio, wherein you spread your risk across multiple sectors so that if one goes down, the others can compensate.

In a similar way, some people believe that the key to success as a creative professional is to go “all in” on one thing. We reinforce this story by celebrating people who hedged everything on a single idea and won. But we often fail to recognize the many, many other people who weren’t so fortunate.

Focus on building a portfolio of passions. Even if you have a full-time job, consider how you might work on developing opportunities in other areas, like serving a nonprofit, developing a side hustle, or working to build with others in your community. Maintaining a portfolio of passions will not only develop resilience in your career, it will also help you learn new things about your own interests and capabilities, which will pay off in whatever work you do. And doing so will likely awaken passion in your day job as well.

There is no “one thing” you are called to do. Build a portfolio of passions.

Is your portfolio balanced? What should be in your portfolio of passions?