Refusing to Choose: Living (and Thriving) the Multi-Passionate Life

“Today we’re looking at how to integrate all your facets as a multi-passionate in a way that creates financial stability — and still lets you make things for the sheer joy of it.” — Dani

If you’ve ever felt torn between your love of teaching and graphic design and bead-weaving and coaching (plus that side obsession with poetry) … welcome. This post distils a recent Creative Commune conversation into a roadmap for creatives who refuse to pick just one lane.

🎧 Want the whole conversation? Catch the full episode of “Creative Commune – Season 2, Episode 1” on your favourite podcast app for all the nuance, laughs, and actionable tips we couldn’t fit into this post.

1️⃣ You’re Not Scattered, You’re a Scanner

Barbara Sher’s term “scanner” keeps popping up in our chats. Amy calls it permission to play: follow a curiosity, drop it when it’s done, trust it’ll circle back into the work later. The goal isn’t to force every interest into a single brand; it’s to let each one feed the others in its own time.

2️⃣ The Three-Tier Framework

Dani maps her creative life into three practical buckets:

Tier	Purpose	Typical Ratio*
Money Work	Skills you’re good at (even if they’re not your soul’s song) that pay the bills quickly	~50 %
Heart Work	Projects you love that also earn something (coaching, workshops, commissions)	~30 %
Soul Play	Experiments done purely for wellbeing: journaling, beadwork, half-finished embroidery	~20 %

*Your numbers will shift by season—but having a ratio stops every passion from fighting for the same hour on the calendar.

3️⃣ Amy’s Rule: Fund the Freedom First

Passive income = artistic breathing room. Amy keeps a steady line of “playful” prints in a Johannesburg shop; the royalties pay rent while she sabbaticals, learns to tattoo, or disappears into screen-printing experiments. “When the basics are covered, dropping a project halfway through isn’t failure—it’s incubation.”

4️⃣ Demi on Detaching (Without Selling Out)

Demi loves turning raw feelings into products, but only after she’s clear on the why:

1. Message first. If the idea matters, it deserves to travel—maybe as a poem, maybe as a sticker pack.

2. Boundaries protect joy. Social-media scrolls live in a cardboard “phone booth” unless a break timer goes off.

3. Lists by the month. One A4 notebook holds every February task; whatever doesn’t fit rolls to March. Simple, visible, done.

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5️⃣ The 80/20 Lens for Creatives

Use the Pareto principle on your income streams:

• Identify work that takes 20 % effort but brings 80 % of revenue (keep it).

• Spot work that burns 80 % effort for 20 % payoff (pause, delegate, or redesign).

Doing this quarterly keeps the money-work tier efficient—so the soul-play tier stays guilt-free.

6️⃣ Seasons, Not Schedules

“We need creative winters and springs. Fighting a ‘block’ sometimes means you’re just in rest mode.” — Amy

Treat energy like weather: push during harvest, refill during dormancy. Your calendar (and self-talk) should honor both.

Quick-Start Checklist

1. Skill-map your toolbox. List everything you can sell, teach, or trade.

2. Budget the baseline. Know the monthly number that must be met.

3. Assign each passion to a tier (Money, Heart, Soul) for this season.

4. Protect focus. Separate chat apps (Slack vs. WhatsApp) and park your phone in a literal box when you work.

5. Review ratios every quarter. Shift with life, not against it.

   
   

Final Thought

Refusing to choose isn’t chaos; it’s integration. Let every curiosity have its moment, keep one eye on the bank balance, and trust that the cross-pollination will make the work—and your life—richer than any single path ever could.

💬 Want help building your own creative systems?

Explore our coaching and mentoring offerings at www.goodplace.co.zaLet’s figure out what works for you.