Over the years I have had several employers who hated the idea of me having hobbies and side gigs.
Initially I thought the concern was that I would use work equipment or do outside stuff in work hours, but I quickly discovered it wasn’t that, there is a toxic idea in business that we need to correct.
There’s this idea that all your attention, brain power, creativity, and energy, 24/7, must be used in the furtherance of The Company, and any use of your “human capital” outside of that is a betrayal.
This came to mind in a coaching call yesterday, with a client who is self employed, so I had to sit down and write this.
My client wondered aloud “how you make time for all these other interests” but I gently told him I think that is a backwards way to look at it.
Your entire waking life can not be dedicated to your business. It’s bad for you, and bad for your customers.
In fact, by seeking out “off-topic” ideas, you grow, both as a person and in your ability to serve your business.
By learning about fresh topics, you can understand the work you more fully, and can be more productive, creative and successful.
Let’s look at how combining knowledge from areas outside of your specific expertise can give you an edge as a blogger, author, speaker, coach, consultant, online course creator, or digital product creator.
Using Multi-Modal Thinking
In education, a lot of smart people encourage “multi-modal learning“, that is, exploring a topic in ways that approach the subject matter from different angles, and engage difference senses. It can be applied outside of learning into other endeavors too.
Multi-modal thinking can be used to combine knowledge and experience from different subjects to understand something better and aid in your creativity.
In your online business, this could, for example, mean using ideas from outside areas like economics, marketing, and psychology to make smarter decisions.
Some of the very best, most inspiring ah-ha moments, can come from combining two different things to make a new, better thing.
As a not very original example, my buddy was excited by my idea for a Star-Wars movie about Luke Skywalker which was just “John Wick in Space“.
A few years back, when I was working at WP Engine, our events team wanted some ice-breaker exhibits for our conference. I made a digital photo booth that would snap a photo (optionally holding some physical fun props), it would apply some overlays and filters, and upload your picture to the live-updated website gallery for you to share on social media.
Where do you think the technical knowledge, coding, fabrication tools, and craft skills came from to put that together quickly and on a cheap budget? You would be correct if you guessed “not from the company”.
Don’t get me wrong, the random one-off physical computing projects I did for those events and hack days were some of the most fun I have had at work, ever! Just don’t think for a moment any of mine or my colleagues ideas and expertise were gained from things we did during our day jobs.
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Applying Multi-Modal Thinking in Your Online Business
To apply this in your business try …
- Understand Your Work as a Collection of Subjects: Your business isn’t just one subject, it’s a mix of many. Part of your day is marketing, part is administration, and so on.
- Study Core Principles: Learn the basics of each field that makes up your business.
- Adopt Continuous Learning: Always seek knowledge from various subjects like marketing, finance, and strategy, but also areas that are very different from your day-to-day, like water colour painting, learning a new language, or Karate.
- Recognize Unique Insights: Each subject offers new brain pathways and opportunities for valuable insights that can help in your work.
- Integrate Knowledge: Combine principles from different subjects to make informed decisions and forge new directions.
- Align Activities and Incentives: Ensure that your work and life keep you engaged, healthy, enthused, and fulfilled, while you work on your business. One of the main causes of productivity drop-off is having to force your work, rather than enjoying the process. If you feel the “Sunday evening blues” because of dreading Monday mornings, you know this in your bones.
When starting or growing your online business, it’s crucial to assess market demand and supply. High demand and low supply signal good opportunities. Biological principles can also offer valuable business insights.
Learn from Multiple Subjects, People, and Experiences
To succeed, it’s important to learn from various subjects, interact with different groups of people, and seek out new experiences.
This helps you understand the world outside of your four walls, incites creativity, refreshes your compassion and empathy, and helps you in making better decisions.
- In fact I would say growing your understanding of how and why people think is an important study for any person in business. Study subjects like psychology, sociology, and philosophy, and you will be better able to communicate and lead.
- Talk to people from different backgrounds and industries. Hanging out with diverse groups can provide new perspectives and ideas that you can apply to your own business, and create connections that can pay off in thousands of unexpected ways.
- Trying new hobbies, traveling, and stretching your comfort zone can introduce you to different ways of thinking and problem-solving. This can lead to creative ideas and solutions.
Avoid staying in a bubble where you only hear similar opinions. Seek out different viewpoints to challenge your thinking and grow your understanding.
Becoming Multidisciplinary
To really excel, it helps to broaden your knowledge beyond your primary area of interest and expertise. Understanding just the basics of a wide variety of subjects, learning from different people, and seeking new experiences helps you become a well-rounded person, and in making well-rounded decisions.
Picture each subject you learn as a lamp that illuminates a fresh part of life’s tapestry, allowing you to see the whole more clearly. The more you learn, the better you see, and the more clear your decision-making becomes.
The Benefits and Pitfalls of Specialization
There is a great benefit to specialization. I’m a big fan.
- For a start, being known for something makes you stand out and gain more demand for your services.
- Being a specialist also makes you better at what you do, because when every situation is brand new you can not really learn from past experience, but building on previous successes and failures can only sharpen your skills.
However, focusing only on one subject – to the exclusion of all others – limits your perspective, removes opportunities for diversifying your experience, and closes you off to future opportunities and novel solutions.
This is Your Brain on Diverse Topics
Learning from multiple subjects provides more and better hooks for your brain.
Rather than filling up your mental hard drive, it actually helps you learn even more, and gives you a competitive edge by understanding how different ideas connect.
Exposure to different ideas benefits the brain in several ways, enhancing learning and cognitive growth:
- Neuroplasticity: Engaging with diverse ideas stimulates the brain, promoting neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections. This adaptability helps in learning and memory retention.
- Critical Thinking: Encountering different perspectives encourages critical thinking. It forces the brain to evaluate, compare, and contrast various viewpoints, which strengthens analytical skills.
- Problem-Solving: Diverse ideas provide a broader toolkit for problem-solving. The brain becomes adept at approaching problems from multiple angles and finding creative solutions.
- Cognitive Flexibility: Exposure to varied concepts improves cognitive flexibility, the brain’s ability to switch between thinking about different concepts or to think about multiple concepts simultaneously. This flexibility is crucial for adapting to new situations and learning new skills.
- Cultural Awareness: Engaging with ideas from different cultures and disciplines broadens understanding and empathy, making it easier to connect with and learn from others.
- Innovation: A brain exposed to diverse ideas is more likely to think outside the accepted norm, fostering innovation and the ability to come up with novel ideas or solutions.
- Memory Development: Learning new and diverse information can improve your memory a great deal. Your brain links new information to existing knowledge, creating a complex web of associations that make recall of information easier and easier.
- Communication Skills: Exposure to different ideas often involves engaging with unusual words and communication styles. This can enhance your vocabulary, comprehension, articulation, and expression.
- Emotional Intelligence: Understanding new perspectives helps you to develop better emotional intelligence, which is vital for your interpersonal relationships .
- Continuous Learning: Embracing fresh ideas keeps you active, engaged, and curious, encouraging your enthusiasm for learning and your own growth.
So in summary, exposing your brain to a variety of ideas or perspectives physically helps you learn by promoting neuroplasticity, helps you communicate and relate to others better, and makes you more creative.
Start Adding “Off-Topic” Subjects to Your Work
I hope you can see how exposing yourself to unusual ideas from wildly different subjects, interacting with diverse groups, and seeking new experiences, can help you in your online business and help you serve your customers better.
By combining knowledge from diverse fields, trying new hobbies or traveling to new places, and by learning from new people and experiences, you can make better decisions, communicate better, and solve problems more effectively.
To apply this today, start by choosing an interesting subject outside of your primary area of expertise to study. Look for introductory texts, YouTube videos, podcasts, online courses, or Netflix documentaries related to it.
When you have your toes wet, seek out conversations with people from different backgrounds and geographies.
By continually expanding your knowledge base, interacting with new people, and seeking out new experiences, you’ll be better equipped to make well-rounded, informed decisions that grow you as a person, and push your online business forward.