I have consciously followed a system of acquiring complementary skills my entire adult life. When my corporate employers offered to pay for a class, I took it. When I saw an article purporting to teach me how to sleep better, or do anything better, I read and absorbed it.
Here is a snapshot of the most useful entries in my talent stack so you can see how they have guided my strange career path:
Economics degree
Business degree (MBA)
Hypnotist
Computer programmer (minor tech skills)
Writing
Drawing
Humor writing
Banker
Manager
Entrepreneur
Public speaker
Drummer (work in progress)
Livestreaming (podcasting)
Touch-typing (a bigger advantage than it sounds)
Design skills
PR skills
What I hope you notice about my collection is how well they work together to make me more than the sum of my parts. With my unique talent stack, I can become a cartoonist who has many windows into life, or I could be a podcaster who analyzes the news, or I could go on the speaking circuit, or I could write books on a variety of topics. I do all those things.
Did one item on the list—drumming—seem as though it doesn’t work with the rest of the skills on my list? I’m learning to drum because I believe it will give me another window into persuasion. I might incorporate it into my podcasting. All I know for sure is that few things are as persuasive as a dance beat, and I want to see what I learn from figuring out how to create one.
I don’t recommend replicating my talent stack. You should start with your natural talents and interests and figure out what else plays well with them. Here are some examples:
If you like finance, learn to be a good communicator and your options multiply.
If you speak a second language, start a business (or work for one) that puts your linguistic advantage to use.
If you have a real estate license, learn to manage rental properties. Those work well together.
Some years ago, a young man sat in my kitchen and asked me how I would go about designing a career for him. I knew he had artistic talent and an interest in tech. So I told him to learn user interface design and build up his graphic arts portfolio. Combine those skills, and you can add value to big companies and startups alike. I didn’t hear from the young man for several years. When I finally did, he reported that he followed my talent stack strategy—Apple had just hired him for lucrative contract work in his field. He has since moved on to an even better job because he could. Last time we spoke, he was learning how to code. He will never have trouble finding good work that pays well.
Burdens and Puzzles
Life likes to toss problems at us with such regularity it sometimes feels as if we signed up for the Burden-of-the-Week Club. Each of these challenges requires some cleverness, hard work, or some other discomfort to handle. I’ve learned I can change my cranky “why me???” attitude by reframing my current burden as a puzzle in need of a solution.
Obviously, it is harder to be playful when your problems involve life and death. But most of the time, we are just figuring out how to be in two places at the same time and other ordinary impossibilities of life. Usually, we surprise ourselves by how cleverly we work through one problem after another, but it all seems like a huge bother.
Usual Frame: Another problem! Why me???
Reframe: Ooh, a new puzzle to solve.
Amazingly, this absurd little reframe almost instantly makes me feel less bothered by my problems. In effect, I gamify my burdens and challenge myself to find smart solutions.
Humans are good at solving problems. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. Some of us are better than others, but we all seem to get through the challenges of the day. Today is unlikely to be different. Tell yourself your burdens are puzzles to solve—see if that changes how you feel. Remember, not all reframes work for all people. I wouldn’t have imagined this one working for me if I hadn’t tried it so many times with success.
I also recommend gamifying your repetitive tasks such as folding laundry, straightening up the house, or making the bed. You do this by treating the “skill” involved as a serious endeavor. For example, I can fold a bath towel so quickly and capably I feel like a circus performer. Every folded towel gives me a little dopamine release. And that’s what makes it a game. I chase the tiny dopamine releases. A good fold literally feels good. By the time I fold six towels, I’m delighted with my own hand-eye-coordination. Strange but true.
I do something similar with straightening up the house. Instead of picking up one item at a time or maybe a few and putting them back in the rooms where they belong, I survey the space and calculate the shortest distance to each item. Then I scoop them up and put them at the exit points to their destinations. But I don’t deliver them to their destination until I have a reason to be walking in that direction for some other reason. By bedtime, all the little piles have been redistributed to their homes, and I feel a dopamine release associated with my pride of minor competence.
Humans evolved to be happier when moving and doing. Household chores satisfy that need, and with a little gamification, they can be sources of dopamine. It simply feels good to do a necessary task efficiently. I don’t think people are too different in that regard.
Usual Frame: Ugh, I hate this repetitive chore.
Reframe: I can do this chore so gracefully and efficiently it feels like a game.
Passion
When you ask successful people about their secrets for success, they often say “passion” is the key. That’s only because successful people don’t want to tell you they are smarter than you, took bigger risks, got lucky, inherited money, broke the law, or had some other advantage not available to you. This is how rich people like me prevent the public from killing us to take our stuff. We create a fictional story about how you, too, can get everything rich people have—if you just dial up your “passion” a bit.
It’s total baloney. You do need enough energy and enthusiasm to push through the hard times to succeed. But that’s obvious. Energy and enthusiasm don’t have the same “zing” passion does even though they’re both orders of magnitude more important for making something of yourself. Personally, I’ve never NOT been aggressive about my career, no matter what direction it took. I wouldn’t call it passion. I simply tried different things until something worked. I was lucky my big break was cartooning because that also gave me a good lifestyle without commuting. But I would have been happy working at a startup and probably equally successful in the long run. Passion has never been part of my process.
Usual Frame: Passion is the key to success.
Reframe: Passion is nice but not required.
If you succeed at anything, passion is likely to find you after the fact. It feels good to succeed, especially if there are witnesses. In my experience, success is most related to your systems, your talent stack, and your ability to go where the energy already is. You also must check the obvious boxes like work hard, stay healthy, and avoid jail. I’ll trust you to get the easy stuff right. Then get your systems and talent stack in order, and you’ll do fine.
Making Something out of Nothing
A common truism is that it takes money to make money. If you already have a million dollars, your odds of making a second million are much higher than the odds of someone with zero dollars making their first million. I have lived that truth for decades. When I got rich making the Dilbert comic strip, all kinds of other business opportunities popped up. I got offers for speaking engagements, book deals, licensing, movies, and more. Success breeds success, and monetary success breeds more monetary success. Money makes everything easier.