Constructive encouragement for those with multiple interests

The Renaissance Soul: Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One by Margaret Lobenstine

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Much workplace advice is based on becoming an “expert” in one’s field. But some of us don’t have the kind of single-minded devotion required to dedicate oneself to a single field for a lifetime. For years, I worried that my career was hampered by the odd personality bent that led me to pursue diverse hobbies or topics of study, sometimes for years on end, only to drop them later for something else. My jack-of-all-trades nature made single-mindedness impossible, but I sometimes regretted my lack of focus. I carved out a niche for myself as the newsroom factotum, but I felt I couldn’t be considered an “expert,” even at copyediting, because I lacked that single-mindedness.

Then I discovered this book.

Margaret Lobenstine has done us a great favor by giving us a reassuring label for our predilection. Being able to label one’s behavior is to increase one’s understanding of it. Better still, by collecting the stories of other Renaissance Souls -- people like Maya Angelou and Ken Burns -- Lobenstine reassures us that we’re not alone.

Reading this book, I discovered that I’m not odd. I’m not scatterbrained. I’m not a failure. I’m a Renaissance Soul.

Lobenstine proposes a continuum of interest, ranging from the single-minded pursuit of one art from an early age, as we see in Wolfgang Mozart, to the multitude of changing interests pursued throughout a lifetime, as we see in Benjamin Franklin. People will fall at different points along this interest continuum, and knowing where you are on it can help you design a career and a life that will be fulfilling.

Lobenstine gives us another helpful label: focal point. This is her term for any area of interest, regardless of whether it’s a job, a hobby, or a hobby you want to turn into a job. She outlines a variety of career paths, including options such as developing an umbrella title to embraces several interests -- writing, for example, can embody numerous topics -- and pursuing two careers simultaneously that complement one another -- such as banking and financial planning.

The book contains a number of exercises meant to help one identify one’s values and interests and prioritize them. These will be familiar if you’ve worked with a life coach or executive coach before, or if you’ve read life and career design books. But the attitude of this book -- the way it embraces the variety we crave -- distinguishes it from all other such books. Because this isn’t just about career design. It’s about designing a life around your interests and desires, with the understanding that those interests WILL change.

Lobenstine recommends picking four or five focal points to concentrate on in any season, while keeping a notebook filled with ideas for pursuing other interests you may wish to keep in store for the future. Then, when you feel you’ve exhausted your possibilities for one focal point, you can pull your notebook out and choose another to take its place. She offers a structure and plan for the kind of interest-shifting Renaissance Souls will do anyway.

But one of the best lessons I learned from this book is that expertise does not require exclusivity. It may take longer to develop -- In my case, it took ten years in a newsroom -- but that doesn’t make one any less an expert.

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A new label for us quiet types

A couple of weeks ago, after a board meeting, one of the other members thanked me for my input. She noted that I don't speak often, but when I do, it's a good contribution.

Photo by Laflor Photography — iStockphoto

I said I believe it's important to speak only when I have something useful to say. She said the very scarcity of my speech gives what little I do say more power.

Truthfully, I'm naturally reserved and am inclined to believe the proverb about it being better to remain silent and be thought foolish than to speak and remove all doubt. But there may still be more to it than that.

I followed a link in the recent issue of Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine to Sally Hogshead's website to learn my F-score.

According to Hogshead's matrix, I'm a "Wise Owl," which means "observant, assured, and unruffled." I think some of my past colleagues would debate that final point.

Hogshead studies personality, a subject that has intrigued me since I learned about Myers-Briggs. I'm a sucker for any sort of "answer these questions and we'll tell you about yourself" assessment. I like this one because Hogshead focuses on the aspects of your personality that make you "fascinating" to others.

I was surprised to learn my primary "trigger," as Hogshead calls it, is "Mystique." Yet, as I read the description, this totally clicked:

When you do share an idea or opinion, it carries more influence than it would for those who tend to 'over-share.'

That is what my fellow board member was talking about.

Mystique! I have mystique. Who knew?

But how is this useful?

Anyone in business must at some point figure out what separates them from the competition. This is usually presented as being your "unique selling position," or USP. Assessments like this one can help you develop the concepts you need to express your USP.

Am I, then, going to bill myself as the Mystique-y editor? No. But get this: one feature of Mystique is, "You persuade others by selectively culling your words and actions."

Hu-lo? Selectively culling words? It's what I do!

I probably won't use the same language as Hogshead's assessment, or the Strengthsfinder one either, but I can use them as a starting point for positioning. I'll let you know how it goes. Meanwhile, I've added her book Fascinate to my shopping list, along with StandOut by Marcus Buckingham and Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki.