…well, this is where it sometimes gets tricky, isn’t it? So often we are defined by our work, by our job title. But what if your job title doesn’t fit you any more, or if running ultra-marathons is actually way more important to you than the words on your business card? And if you’re in the creative world, like I am, sometimes you need a patchwork of ‘other’ jobs to keep the ‘main’ job afloat.

A little more about me… I don’t run ultra-marathons. I drag myself out for a slow 5k every now and again, and sometimes I eye the application form for an ultra-marathon and remind myself I’m getting carried away again! I’m a musician. I’ve been a musician for over third-five years. Some of those years were school years, the rest has involved, here comes the patchwork, performing live gigs playing the music I want to play with the people I want to play with at a favourite venue with fantastic pay. Other activities that have fallen into the patchwork have included my first paid London gig for the Christmas season of a circus. This was less of a highlight, although, at the time, it felt pretty fabulous to be taking the train to Richmond every day and placing bets with the rest of the band on whether the inflatable Santa would fully inflate or collapse during the evening performance. I’ve taught a lot, including at conservatoires, groups of adult learners, private students, children.

The rest of my patchwork career (I believe the term is ‘portfolio’ these days!) has included being a special educational needs teacher, and specialising in working with autistic young people. I loved this role, and got much from it and gave much to it. I’ve worked in museum education, and got up and close with sharks teeth and dinosaur bones. I have taught yoga in north, south, east and west London, and been a sports massage therapist and craniosacral therapist running my own business in clinics, and in corporate settings and most recently in a NHS hospital staff wellbeing service. My newest passion is ongoing training as a psychotherapist, seeing me offering counselling to student musicians in conservatoires. And of course, I’ve thrown coaching, and specifically career coaching into the mix, because I feel thinking deeply about our career and life choices deserves a bit more focus and attention than some of us give it. I recognise that having some structured support and someone to listen can work wonders for people no matter where they are in their career journey.

As you might see from the above, my patchwork career has had twists and turns, and my general guiding principle has been that something works for me as long as a) I’m excited by it, b) I am helping to share this excitement with others, c) there is an opportunity for me to learn and grow.

And now I’m curious to know… How would you describe your career so far? Is it patchwork, linear, zooming off like a rocket, blocky, squiggly? And what have been your guiding principles? Have you spent time thinking about your values and how they inform your next steps when it comes to career and life decisions? If you’re a patchwork careerist like me, how can you make the little blocks of your quilt as fulfilling as they can be? And, if you’re on a more linear path, do you know where are you going next?