In defence of staying in your lane

Whether you know it as the side hustle or the multi-hyphenate career, 2018 came to be known as the year we wouldn’t dream of having just one string to our bow. We turned our side hustles into start-up businesses and expanded our part-time projects into real time earners. For many of us in business in 2018, specialising was out and hustling was in, with 1 in 4 of us running a business alongside our main job according to a report by the Henley Business School for Forbes. But if 2018 was the year of the side hustle, 2019 looks set to be the year of staying in your lane.

‘Jack of all trades, master of none’. We dare say you’ll have heard your ‘rents mutter the phrase at some point, probably when your mum was chastising dad for cocking up the DIY. It’s a quote passed down through the ages to describe someone who will turn their hand to anything, albeit not always with the skills to do any of the tasks involved with any degree of success. This tendency to juggle multiple careers, spreading your focus across multiple specialities has come to be regarded as a bit of a given in recent years. After all, we wear being busy as a badge of honour and nothing says busy quite like having multiple businesses booming.

But what happens if you’re hardly enamoured with the thought of diversifying your income streams, albeit at the expense of your focus? What if you’re alright with just working the eight hours a day thanks and what if you’d rather have a kick-about with the kids than go back to your desk after dinner? There’s a lot to be said for the side hustle, for growing your business or passion project without sacrificing the job that pays the bills in the meantime, but there’s no shame in staying in your lane either. After all, if you’ve already done the hard work in launching your own business, it makes perfect sense to dedicate your time and effort into making it even more bloody amazing over the year ahead.

So when you’re tempted to flick the indicator and switch lanes in 2019, don’t feel the fool for opting to coast along right where you were instead.

Helm Free Fridays

Want to learn more? Head down to Helm on a Friday for Helm Free Fridays. Full use of the space with meeting rooms, people and coffee. Come see what we're all about.