A succession of new careers — fluidity in todays working style

I've been thinking about how many of us are looking for careers and working styles that afford a greater measure of variety and independence, with scope to grow and change, and how this relates to changes in lifestyles generally over the past ten years or so.

Those of us who have grown up with the development of the internet, greater cross-global relations and greater accessibility to a broader range of cultural influences are used to having this sense of abundance, expansion, adventure and broad-minded outlook. Our sense of scope may be greater than that of other generations. That's not to say all people who are of older generations are narrow minded or that all younger people are global-minded, but I think those of us who have grown up with the internet and the world at large being more accessible to us perhaps find it natural to be constantly looking outwards with hungry hearts. To have working lives that reflect these dynamic, changing, broad world views.

In the past when i've discussed potential career avenues and working styles with older members of my family (parents, aunts, uncles) and even sometimes with university career advisors (the ones who have three files on their shelf - City, Civil Service or Teacher) they couldn't quite get where I was coming from. 'Why can't you get a normal job like everyone else?' tended to come up, or 'why can't you pick one thing and stick with it?' By and large I also got the feeling that they thought my being brought up to have an abundant, discovery-led approach to life was causing me problems now, that I needed to 'sort myself out' as I was having ADD about work!

Yet I know this hunger for more, for new experiences, for friends abroad, for new skills isn't just me and will become more and more prominent and pervasive. And that it is not a problem! It is almost a cultural difference - and differences are just that, not problems. Those of us with a thirst for knowledge, adventure, self-development, pushing boundaries are the agents of change. The world needs us, although sometimes people don't always know it! We have to encourage ourselves and eachother to keep moving and stay hungry - it's what makes the world turn and on a personal level keeps us feeling alive. The older, more traditional forms of working (9-5, large organisation-based, work to pay your mortgage, be settled in one place) is becoming outdated in this new kind of world, and hopefully those of us who choose more dynamic, fluid ways of working will find we're becoming more of a majority, inspiring others to ditch working styles that no longer work for them and move onto living happier lives.