What if I have multiple interests?
Writing. Online business. Passion. Purpose. Travel. Outdoors. Entrepreneurship. Journaling. Productivity. Creativity. Photography. Video. Art. Education.
How the heck do I manage multiple interests, and tie them all together into a “specific niche?”
Most creative entrepreneurs think they need to focus on one specific thing for the rest of their lives (and never waver).
Some people spend years trying to decide on something, only to have their interests shift every few months. As you can imagine, this leads to never getting started in the first place.
Rather than building any initial momentum, it’s easy to get stuck in analysis paralysis – the state of being stuck in a cycle of overthinking and overanalyzing your future moves.
The Goal > The Means of Getting There
When thinking of creating and sharing online, it’s overwhelming to decide what to focus on.
People aren’t necessarily interested in a YouTube channel that shares about baking cookies, knitting scarves, and makeup product reviews. The thought of being “too random” or sharing about unrelated topics stops most people from starting.
Often times it’s the people that zero-in on one specific thing that see enduring “success.”
But… like most people, I don’t want to pigeon-hole myself into building a business around something that I may eventually lose interest in. I have too many things that interest me to choose just one.
So, how do you share about a few of your interests without losing sight of the bigger picture?
- You focus on the goal, and share about the means of getting there.
Answer = Lifestyle Design
The term “lifestyle design” became popular with Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Work Week.
Tim saw a tremendous amount of success with this book, and it remains a popular read today (17 years after its release).
In my opinion, the reason that this book is so popular is because the title is relevant to… just about everyone. Who doesn’t love the idea of a 4-hour work week?
In a society that is littered with 40, 60, 80-hour work weeks – 4 hours sounds like a refreshing miracle.
But the genius is in the fact that Tim titled this book with a goal, not the means of getting there.
(For the record I actually have not read this book, but it’s on my list!)
Whatever methods Tim mentions in the book are of interest to nearly anyone, because last time I checked, a majority of people would do (just about) anything to work 4 hours per week.
For all I know the book could be about building an e-commerce store that only takes an hour a day to make $100k per year. But would I ever read a book titled “The 100k E-Commerce Business”?
Probably not.
Would I read a book called The 4-Hour Work Week? Sure would. And I’m not the only one.
People are more interested in the lifestyle than they are in the means of achieving it.
Portraying Your Path
So how does this relate to you sharing about multiple interests?
Everyone’s story is different. Everyone’s goals are different. Everyone strives for different “successes.”
For me, I want to:
- Seek my stoke (continue pursuing the thing that “lights my fire”)
- Be a continuous learner (and follow my curiosities)
- Have time and location freedom
- Create things
- Serve others
- Teach others
- Explore the world
The most practical way of achieving this lifestyle is through entrepreneurship – creating a business that I enjoy working on, while serving and teaching others along the way.
That is my way of achieving the goals and freedoms that I strive for.
Another person might achieve their ideal lifestyle through real estate. Another through being a remote employee. Another might achieve it through building a business, selling it, and sailing off into the sunset.
And for some people, they’re happy as a lark working as an employee and pursuing their interests outside of work. There really is no “one size fits all.” That’s the beauty of the world we live in – everyone has a place.
It’s how you maintain contentment in “your place” that interests other people. Invite others to join your tribe.
If you’re wondering how to share about multiple interests, keep this in mind:
- What lifestyle do your interests allow you to live?
- In other words, what is your unique way of achieving your goals?
If you share about the various things that allow you to get there, and keep “the goal” as the main topic, it will all feel relevant in the bigger picture.
As of the time of writing, my personal tagline is: On a mission to help educators and entrepreneurs find clarity and create better content.
Does this relate to the various things I share about on this newsletter and on my YouTube channel?
I hope so, but that’s for you to decide 🙂
By the way, I recently created a template for my entire YouTube video creation process. You can get it for free here. Whether it’s your first, or 500th video, I’m confident this will help keep your process more organized. Hope this helps!
–Eric Pfohl