To spur new ideas, innovation, growth and change you need to have multiple talents and skills

We have noted the importance of finding our passion and pursuing our passion in previous articles but can one have more than one passion?

What happens when you realize that you actually love doing more than one thing or you are talented in more than one area? Is it even possible to have two or more passions?

Well your answer is, YES and people with more than one talent or interest are described as multipassionates or polymaths. Here are some clear examples.

Trump was passionate about business and leadership. He is a multi billionaire businessman and obviously was already a successful leader even as he pursued his business goals but even after being successful as an entrepreneur he went on to become the 45th president of America.

George Weah was passionate about football and leadership. Probably his time on the football pitch allowed him to build his leadership skills as he led his team to successive game victories. He later went on to become the 25th president of Liberia.

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was passionate about Hollywood acting and leadership. He was the 38th Governor of California after becoming one of the top rated and successful Hollywood actors.

Gates is passionate about computer technology and philanthropy. He setup his charity organisation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation before he transitioned to part-time work at his company. His company is still today one of the top software companies in the world.

Sir Richard Branson is a businessman and he is also passionate about philanthropy. He controls more than 400 companies and his philanthropy work is known all over the world.

There are three types of multipassionates that we will look at here and you can also be successful by following the scripts of the leaders we see as examples.

· You can have different unrelated projects taking place at the same time.

You could be a business icon, community leader, a well renowned scholar and a philanthropist or volunteer in their community. You can probably point out one such person in your country.

You can have unrelated projects like former 3rd president of Kenya Mr. Emilio Mwai Kibaki who is an economist. He was a lecturer at Makerere University in Uganda before joining politics in Kenya. As a politician he was a Member of Parliament, a finance minister, a successful businessman and a good golfer.

· You may combine different skills and interests together.

As an entrepreneur you will fall here because being successful in business mostly entails being good at different tasks and begin able to combine the different skills learnt while conducting their business.

As an entrepreneur you will need to be a good accountant, project manager, human resource manager, customer service manager, public relations manager, product development manager, marketing manager and operations manager. You are required to play all these roles and conduct all these functions diligently, skillfully, professionally, effectively and efficiently for your business to be successful in the short and long run.

A student studying economics may have a good voice and decides to also study journalism; eventually becoming a business news reporter or a business news anchor on television. In this case the now business reporter will use his/her economics knowledge to interpret business data, forecast business trends and analyse business data and information. While also making use of his/her journalism knowledge to skillfully and professionally report business news in a manner all viewers irrespective of age and level of education will be able to understand.

· Finally you can also work on your different interests’ one after the other.

Just like Usain Bolt before pursuing his other passion for football participated in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4 × 100 meters relay sprints. He retired from athletics and he is currently training with Australian football A-League club, the Central Coast Mariners as a left-winger.

Having digital marketing skills is one way you can ensure you become multipassionate. Whatever your passion is, you can blog about your passion and experiences or write eBooks and make more money while doing so.

School and life will most of the time force us to choose and pick one area of specialization. There are also advantages to specialization. You get to be laser focused on one thing and ensure that you succeed in it rather than dilute your focus. Each step you take in life or business compliments the other to ensure success in your area.

Today the world needs people with a variety of skills, interests, talents or passion and people that are willing to explore these even further. These interests do not need to be related and these people will not specialize because there is a lot to learn out there in the fast and ever changing world we live in today.

Because the world is changing at a fast pace, doing or learning one thing will not help you any longer. Business solutions today are not found in the same place.

Traditional shopping today combines with the product ordering technology and digital marketing to provide shoppers with the opportunity to conveniently shop online while at the comfort of their homes or offices. Examples are Amazon and Alibaba.

The cab companies combined their cab business with the product ordering technology to provide a convenient online cab service. Examples are Uber, little cabs and taxify.

Even when it seemed impossible in the past, new technologies and innovative products and services today are as a result of a combination of two unrelated items.

Therefore, to spur new ideas, innovation, growth and change you need to have multiple talents and acquire multiple skills in life.

Whatever your passion is, you can blog about your passion and experiences or write eBooks and make more money while doing so.

Cheers,

Peter Kirimi Mburugu.

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